CONDITIONS at the multi-storey car park in Trowbridge have been likened to a sewer by town councillors.

Wiltshire Council have come under fire for not keeping the Castle Place multi-storey car park, which it owns, in good condition. Councillors say the ground floor has been hit by flooding problems, which leads to a foul smell, graffiti is scrawled on many of the walls and there has been vandalism.

Cllr Graham Payne said that in 2008 the old West Wiltshire District Council, which merged into Wiltshire Council in 2009, spent £500,000 on the multi-storey and very little, if anything, has been spent on it since.

“This is a very important car park as it is free but at times it smells like a sewer,” he said.

“Wiltshire Council don’t spend any money on it. This summer there have been flooding problems and nothing is being done about it. There is a lot of rubbish chucked down there too.”

Cllr Deborah Halik said volunteers run a soup kitchen on the basement floor of the car park and the flooding there makes it less than ideal.

“The state of this place is ridiculous,” she said. “They have the daily soup run here and being in these wet and smelly conditions is not good at all.”

The councillors also said the fire doors were propped upon when they should not be.

A Wiltshire Council spokesman said: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused and are in the process of resolving the issues. We have been on-site repairing barriers and cleaning drains. We are waiting for the excess water to dry before we are able to fully assess the damage. Each stairwell is also due to be jet washed down and the graffiti cleaned, but we ask that people respect their local area as it costs valuable public money to deal with these types of avoidable issues which is best spent on other, more vital, services.”