There are new calls for a Marlow car park to have a new deck added to ease parking problems in the town after angry residents fought against plans to install pay-and-display meters in the High Street and surrounding areas.

Marlow Town Council (MTC) has proposed the creation of a decked car park in the current Riley Road car park, behind Sainsbury's, which it says will almost double the number of current parking spaces – from 146 to around 290 – at a parking strategy meeting with Bucks County Council (BCC) and Wycombe District Council (WDC).

Residents and councillors have repeatedly called for a multi-storey car park in the town to try and alleviate chronic parking problems over the past few years.

But at the time, WDC insisted that decking the Riley Road car park in the centre of the town would be an “expensive solution”.

MTC now says at a cost of between £1.6 million and £2 million, car parks like the one proposed “can be built in a phased way with little disruption to current parking”.

It comes after BCC proposed to charge people £1 per hour to park in the High Street and some of the surrounding areas in a bid to encourage more people to use off-street car parks, which are cheaper, to reduce congestion and improve air quality.

But the plans were met with anger, with residents and businesses fearing it would drive people away from Marlow and “destroy” the shopping in the town, and a petition launched by the town council gathered more than £7,500 signatures opposing the measures.

Mayor Jocelyn Towns and deputy mayor Chris Funnell have been working on the new parking project with architects Tom Russell Design.

Cllr Towns said the plans, presented to Cllr Julia Adey (WDC) and Cllr Mark Shaw (BCC), are part of MTC’s “very clear objectives” to address congestion in the business areas of the town, keep free parking in shopping streets and bolster overall parking capacity.

She said: “We are actively targeting parking capacity in all areas of the town through collaboration, backed by solid data.

“We have commissioned a proof of concept for a decked car park in the heart of the town, which will nearly double surface parking.

“MTC is the catalyst for a tripartite approach with BCC and WDC, with all parties agreeing to avoid piecemeal approaches and work together for a joined-up holistic strategy.”

The council says it is also working with BID Co., the business improvement district in Marlow, to facilitate projects that move parking away from residential streets back to Globe Park.

MTC says it expects a response once WDC’s parking review is released later this month.