Controversial plans to use The Rye as a car park for huge roadwork machines as part of a major road overhaul project have been scrapped in a shock U-turn, as the council bows to public pressure.

As revealed by the Bucks Free Press earlier this month, a highway depot looked set to open-up on The Rye – close to a children’s play area visited by hundreds of families every week - and stay there until April next year as phase five of the town centre masterplan gets underway in the summer.

The news caused outrage among residents and local councillors who believed the huge compound would be an “intrusion on the jewel in the town's crown”.

After the front page warning of ‘Chaos around the corner’ from the Free Press (pictured below) and calls for a different location to be used by campaigners, Wycombe District Council (WDC) has finally caved in.

Bucks Free Press:

Moving away from initial plans for the construction compound on The Rye, it will now be located on the Railway Place car park, off London Road – taking up more than a third of the spaces.

The contractor’s compound will take up 60 parking spaces, leaving 112 for motorists.

WDC says Railway Place has been selected to avoid disruption on The Rye, while it is also close to the planned road improvement works and is already hard surfaced.

Cllr Dominic Barnes, deputy leader at Wycombe District Council said: “There’s no easy way to set up a works compound on this scale which doesn’t have a knock on effect for some people.

“We have acted on the strong reaction to using the Rye, which is a jewel in the crown of the town used by thousands of people for recreation.

“We have listened and we’ve responded with a different plan.

“We’ve worked hard to minimise the impact this will have, but we are asking for people to understand why we need to do this and to bear with us.”

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Entry to Railway Place car park will be closed from Sunday, July 1 at 4pm so contractors can start to set up the compound and rearrange the car park.

It will then reopen on Thursday, July 5 at 7am with 112 parking spaces.

The site compound within the car park will be in operation until May 2019.

WDC is also giving up space at its Queen Victoria Road offices to make way for the site office in order to reduce the impact of the contractor’s compound, councillors have said.

It has also been revealed there will also be free use of the Park and Ride service from Handy Cross Hub (HXH) Monday to Friday while the compound is at Railway Place.

Once the project is completed all the spaces will be returned to service with an extra 22 spaces created as part of the rearrangement of the spaces within the car park.

Mark Shaw, Buckinghamshire County Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for transportation said: "This scheme will improve the look of the area around Queen Victoria Road and Easton Street to encourage visitors, shoppers and businesses.

“The aim is to make it safer and better for motorists and pedestrians. “We recognise that a number of car park spaces will be temporarily lost to house the compound, but we will do our best to minimise disruption over the next few months".

Members of the team behind the project will be on site at Railway Place car park to answer questions in person from 2pm to 8pm on Thursday, June 28.

The site compound will serve the next stage of highway improvements in High Wycombe which will open-up Easton Street and Queen Victoria Road for two-way traffic and make changes to traffic lights.

The council says these changes will make journey times quicker for many road users using the main route, improve air quality, and also help to regenerate the town centre, making it a more attractive place to live, work and visit.

The work is part of a £14 million investment in the High Wycombe town centre Masterplan (HWTCMP) which includes the work that has already been completed on the Alternative Route.

What do you think of the plans? Comment below or email bfpletters@london.newsquest.co.uk