THE future use of Anstey Park has been catapulted into the spotlight as it comes under pressure from developers and planners keen to use its hardstanding areas as a public car park.

An assumption by East Hampshire District Council (EHDC) planners and transport consultants that on-site parking at the park can be viewed as a public amenity by commercial enterprises has filled Alton Town Council with horror.

Councillors argue that the car parking provision is for users of Anstey Park only and that it should not be used by staff, directed to use the facility as a public car park during the working day.

The concern was raised during an extraordinary meeting of the town council’s open spaces committee last Wednesday when discussion focused first around the need for additional on-site parking at the weekends when there is pressure on parking from both Alton rugby and football clubs.

Town clerk Leah Coney had been in discussion with neighbouring Alton Convent concerning the possibility of using the school car park on Saturdays and Sundays to alleviate pressure on Anstey Park. The cost was expected to be in the region of £1,800 a year.

It was resolved at the meeting to proceed with an agreement on a one-year trial basis.

The aim would be for the rugby and football clubs to use the overspill parking for visiting teams, leaving the main Anstey Park car park for use by the public. But only if the clubs agreed to contribute to the associated cost of the initiative.

More worrying, however, was news that district council planners had granted permission at Anstey Park House, adjacent to the park on Anstey Road, for a change of use from A2 (financial and professional) to D1, to enable the site to become a day nursery.

The application, by Lime Tree Ltd, is for provision of a day nursery for 50 children, running 51 weeks per year, from 7.30am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday in the two-storey building recently vacated by an accountancy firm.

Alton Town Council had objected to the application on grounds of inadequate on-site parking. The applicant will provide eight car parking spaces but these will be for use by the parents of children attending the nursery.

The concern was that both the officer recommendation and an independent transport statement accepted as part of the proposal that there was not only provision for local on-street parking but that the parking facility at Anstey Park had potential to be used for parking by staff and parents.

Mrs Coney said she had written to the applicant declining use of Anstey Park as a public parking area, but this appears to have been ignored.

Councillors expressed concern that if the town council was seen to accept unregulated public parking by commercial enterprise, there would be pressure from all would-be developers to do the same.

In the meantime, work is about to start on Monday on resurfacing the car park around the Royal British Legion clubhouse, focusing on remedial work on manholes along the main entrance to the park and on repairs to potholes across the site.

The problems over parking come as Alton Town Council consults over potential improvements to sporting facilities provided at Anstey Park – an exercise that is already raising concerns over its use as a park versus sports ground.

The public consultation, which runs until September 5, is seeking views on projects to include the refurbishment of the netball and tennis courts to provide a multi-use games area at the existing location, the use of Diggers Field for a floodlit training area and the introduction of an additional rugby pitch, the introduction of a public trim trail around the perimeter of the park, and of an all-weather training track for athletics.

The aim is to provide an holistic view of the impact on the area should all the opportunities be approved.

But not everyone is on board with the idea of giving up open space for sport.

In a letter to the Alton Herald, Anstey Residents’ Group argued: “Anstey Park is a unique open space which is serially coming under threat from various groups who want to ‘make better use’ of its space.”

The letter continued: “There appears to be a flawed perception that ‘open space’ has to be used for something. Open space by definition is just that...it doesn’t necessarily need to be full of formal activities. Indeed, that is its attraction to many who use the park. Accordingly, roads and running tracks, fitness trails and floodlights are alien to the parkscape; they have their place but not in Anstey Park’s unique, open environment. We would suggest that the need for these facilities, while possibly welcome in ‘sporting’ terms, has yet to be demonstrated.”

At the meeting, Alton Town Council leader Peter Hicks advised caution in particular over the conversion of Diggers, currently an informal open space area of the park, to provide two additional rugby pitches, pointing out that previous investigations had revealed poor drainage and flinty ground that could result in it becoming a “mud pit” and inaccessible to any users.

n Consultation forms will be available from the town council’s Rio Festival in Anstey Park on Sunday, August 21, and paper copies will also be available from the town hall, as well as being delivered to 8,000 homes across the town.

The consultation can also be completed online at surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ansteypark.