More than £1m spent on car park regeneration plans

A council has spent more than £1m on controversial plans to build on town centre car parks and a bus station.

Documents published by Huntingdonshire District Council show it paid developer Capital and Centric £1,058,720 between January and July.

The company was appointed by the council last year to draw up proposals to regenerate parts of Huntingdon, St Ives and St Neots.

Critics have described the project as a "monumental waste" of money. Huntingdonshire District Council has been approached for comment.

The proposals included replacing Huntingdon Bus Station and the Princes Street car park with 78 homes.

In St Neots, Tebbutts Road car park would make way for 83 homes and green space.

In St Ives, the plans proposed 120 homes, a gym and restaurants on the site of the former cattle market square and gatehouse.

Hundreds of residents attended public consultation events organised by Capital and Centric, while opposition councillors questioned the process.

There were calls for the council's Liberal Democrat leader, Sarah Conboy, to resign over the row, but she survived a vote of no confidence.

Conservative group leader Ross Martin described the project as a "monumental waste of public money" and called for someone to take accountability.

Ryan Coogan, Reform UK's group leader on the council, has put forward a motion for the authority to stop working with Capital and Centric.

The motion, which will go before the council meeting on Wednesday, said: "Money already spent must never, of itself, become a justification for spending further public money."

Huntingdonshire District Council told the BBC it had updated its frequently asked questions webpage about the project.

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