A NEW pay and display car park in Barrow will ease town centre congestion, council officials claim.The £350,000 car park has 52 bays, 36 of which are pay and display. The remaining spaces are a combination of contract and disabled bays.The car park was paid for with government cash.

Caren Hindle, parking services manager for Barrow Borough Council, believes the car park will combat the parking space shortage in that section of the town centre.She said: “The area of the town centre where the car park is located has been severely short of parking for a long time now.“There is always a shortage of parking at that end of the town, particularly on busy days like Saturdays.“It can make the roads much busier when there are no parking spots.

“Emlyn Street car park will hopefully provide that much-needed parking.”Mrs Hindle said several free parking bays have also been added to the area outside the car park to combat the problem.

Trees have been planted in the car park in keeping with the environmentally-friendly improvements which have been made to the bottom of Dalton Road and Abbey Road.Benches and bins have also been put in place and state-of-the-art lighting has been installed.

Mrs Hindle said: “The finished product looks very smart. Hopefully the people of Barrow will appreciate the work that has gone into it.”Barrow Borough Council gained permission to demolish part of Emlyn Street to make way for the car park in 2006.

The Emlyn Street site was previously home to buildings including the Evening Mail’s press site, which has now moved to Phoenix Road, and motor dealer Barton Townley, which is now in James Freel Close.