A ROW has broken out over the cost of creating 10 new parking bays on Farnborough Road.

South Swindon Parish Council wanted to create the spaces using a mesh over the existing verge to make it suitable for parking while keeping it as a green space.

But the Swindon Borough Council said that tarmac would be a better option.

A fee of £10,000 was originally quoted but months later the borough authority came back with a revised fee of £31,000, throwing the project into doubt. The council says the price increase is due to the cost of improved foundations, something that would have to happen no matter the method.

A spokesman for the parish council said: “We have been working with borough on this project for over two years.

“We agreed to include this project as part of the parish transition even though parishes would not normally be involved in such works.

“The initial price was £12,000 but there have been a number of staff changes within the borough highways team and our latest communication has seen the price increase to £30,000. This has gone beyond the scope of our budget.

“We are surprised and disappointed at the scale of the variation and will have to seek an alternative solution.

“Unfortunately the borough has since exacerbated the problem by allowing additional unsuitable drop kerbs last year in the same area. This was against the advice of councillors and has further reduced parking provision, causing tension between local residents.”

The borough said: “The parish council was initially presented with a tarmac solution costing £10,000 in order to meet its limited budget.

“Further investigation revealed that the strength of the foundations needed to be improved to ensure it met the required standards. This inevitably resulted in an increase in construction costs.

“The parish then asked us if we could supply them with a mesh option, but this still requires the same work on the foundations, and was estimated to cost £20,000.”