A BREWERY boss has stepped in to try to resolve the row over the closure of a village centre car park.

Whalley was thrown into chaos when Whitbread banned motorists from its pub car park last month.

Shoppers and visitors to the doctor, dentist and adult education centre used the Whalley Arms car park, but brewery bosses claimed people were parking all day and causing inconvenience to pub staff and customers.

Now they are to introduce a pay-and-display scheme at the site after the firm's regional director Chris Sullivan stepped in to solve the problem.

They had originally objected to a council pay-and-display scheme because they said it would penalise pub customers.

Traders had threatened to quit the village if alternative parking wasn't provided by Ribble Valley Council.

The council leased the car park from Whitbread for ten years, but could not afford to renew the agreement.

Mr Sullivan said the brewery had been keen to find a solution to the problem.

"It seems a little harsh that we were being held responsible for the lack of car parking in the village, when we had always worked hard to accommodate local needs.

"However, Whitbread is a community-conscious organisation and I was keen to find a workable compromise between local opinion and the viability of the pub.

"We wanted to stop the facility from being abused by people parking all day while they conducted business in the village or elsewhere.

"Our plan to simply ban parking between midnight and 11.30am did not prove popular, therefore we are proposing to install a pay-and-display system," he said. Motorists will pay a nominal fee for short stays but a much larger fee will be imposed for parking all day, in a bid to deter long-stay motorists.

Pub customers will be able to refund their parking fee against the price of drinks or food and anyone running over time will be clamped.

Whalley Coun Joyce Holgate, who has been inundated with phone calls from members of the public outraged at the loss of the facility, welcomed the new scheme.

"We must still look for additional car parking in the village, but I'm pleased that the brewery has found a workable solution to the problem and welcome the new scheme," she said.

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