The latest attempt to provide additional car parking in Crewkerne town centre has been delayed by planning concerns.

South Somerset District Council has been trying for nearly a decade to create a new car park on the former Millers Garage site, located south of the A30 East Street.

Having purchased the site in late-2014 for £225,000, the council spent years trying to bring forward proposals for the car park, which would link up to the existing car parking near the Henhayes Centre.

The council’s district executive committee met virtually on Thursday morning (June 9) to agree funding of £210,000 to help bring the parking forward as part of a new commercial housing development.

But the decision was ultimately deferred, with councillors ruling that a planning application for the new homes should be approved before any funds to deliver the car park are allocated.

Councillor Peter Seib – who chaired the meeting in the absence of council leader Val Keitch – said: “After discussion with ward members and also doing a little bit of research, it’s become apparent that really this is cart before horse, and we should be seeing a planning application before a spending decision.

“I’m suggesting we pull this decision and allow the status quo to exist – in other words, officers will continue to see if an agreement can be reached that allows a planning application to be made.

“It would only be after determination of that application that we would be in a position to make a spending decision.

“The application ground isn’t allocated for housing in the Local Plan, and as such there hasn’t been dialogue with the people of Crewkerne to see if this is a site they would support for housing or to establish whether there are any overriding objections.”

James Kirtan, who lives on East Street, said there was an “urgent” need for more parking in the town and pressed the council to take action on the matter.

He said: “There’s literally nowhere to park on East Street – there’s been several occasions of people just driving up and down, waiting for someone else to move so they can park.

“The car park idea was so incredibly popular and met with euphoria along the whole of East Street and Mount Pleasant. Now I fear we’ll lose any sort of car park forever.”

Pat Lunt said the space would be better served by creating a new park for the town, which could eventually connect up to new housing at the town’s eastern edge.

He said: “It’s accessible open space which could eventually be developed as informal gardens or a country park – something that would be available for everybody in the town and would add to the character of the town, making it more attractive for tourists.

“There is the possibility for housing in other places, but you can’t get that kind of open space anywhere else. Bincombe [Beeches Nature Reserve] is not accessible if you’re elderly or infirm unless you drive up there.

“If this was locked down [for car parking], you’d lose many opportunities for developing it in a way that would benefit the whole town.

“It could link out to the Crewkerne Key Site, with foot-ways and cycleways, and could make that site even more sustainable.”

Taylor Wimpey Exeter is in the early stages of constructing 635 homes on the key site, along with employment units, a 60-bed care home and a new link road connecting the A30 Yeovil Road with the A356 Station Road.

The council has not provided an indication as to how soon a planning application for the Millers Garage car park could come forward.