A WISBECH town councillor has dubbed the new Market Place layout a “mish mash” after discovering that markings for new parking bays are being removed and redrawn.

Councillor Dave Patrick has complained that nearly �2,000 is being spent on the new white lines, and he has several other concerns about the new traffic management scheme that comes into force on October 1.

“I am very concerned about the parking bays, we are having to spend money on something we should have got right in the first place,” he said.

“We should be getting things right, not costing the rate payers more money. The whole new layout has not been properly thought through.”

Market trader Lee Martin says he was “absolutely staggered” to discover the white lines are to be redrawn. “I hear that the town clerk was told two hours bfore the work was carried out that they should be at an angle, but he said he liked them the way they were; so more expense for the people of Wisbech.”

The town council took over management of the Market Place last summer, and it will be responsible for ensuring that drivers comply with various new traffic restrictions.

Cllr Patrick - who is chairman of Wisbech and District Hackney Carriage Drivers’ Association - is concerned that the High Street is open to two-way traffic, when parking bays restrict the width of the carriageway. He also says that cars have been colliding with new bollards, as they arrive on the Market Place from Hill Street.

“Surely it would be common sense to make the High Street one way, with traffic only entering towards the Market Place and exiting out past United News,” he said.

Regarding the Market Place junction with Hill Street, Cllr Patrick said: “I have been advised that there have been at least seven incidents regarding collisions between vehicles and the bollards, as drivers not understanding the new layout have tried to turn left.”

Deputy town clerk Susanah Farmer has told Cllr Patrick that the original parking bays were marked, advised by the white lining company according to “information at the time.” But the bays are now being re-aligned with county council installed loading bays, to ease traffic flow.

The cost of the new white lines, around �1,800, has come from the funds given to the town council to put the traffic scheme into place.