Villagers hit back over newly opened Manea station car park

A newly opened village railway station car park has been branded a major asset by residents despite reports they are upset with the cost of it.

People living in Manea have jumped to the defence of the car park at the village railway station, which opened earlier this month, after the national media claimed “villagers were furious” and had branded it a “waste of money” after pictures were taken showing only one car using it.

However, while many of the reports in the national media appeared to contain only one or two negative comments, people posting on the village Facebook page were widely more positive.

Following national news coverage use of the car park has increased.

Many believe the 112 space car park, which has admittedly had only a few people using it so far, will be a boon to the village and will help drive up property values.

That belief will be helped once new signage goes up highlighting the car park to rail users and encouraging more people to use it.

Manea’s district councillor Charlie Marks said the car park, which opened on August 6, has so far only had a soft opening with plans for an official opening later this autumn.

Councillor Charlie Marks said new signs and a mail drop in neighbouring Chatteris, Doddington and Wimblington are planned to help increase users.

He said: “The intention was always to have a soft opening, people can use the car park and we can assess any issues and iron out any little problems before it is officially opened.

“We have identified one or two issues such as the fact the developer has left its security fencing up, and these will be sorted in time for the official opening.

“We have new signage planned to point people towards the car park and that will no doubt help boost its use.

Following national news coverage use of the car park has increased.

“There are also plans for a mail drop in Chatteris, Doddington and Wimblington highlighting the station car park is open and has the added advantage of being free to use in a bid to encourage people to come to Manea to catch the train rather than go to March.”

He said while he was at the car park dealing with the fall-out of the national press coverage one woman turned up to park.

“She had travelled from Wimblington, she had seen the comments on Facebook about the national coverage and thought she would give our station a try,” said Coun Marks. “She said she usually has to tackle the traffic through March and coming to Manea had saved her 15 to 20 minutes, plus she couldn’t believe she didn’t have to pay £3.50 to park. It is people like her we hope to attract going forward.

The car park had a soft opening so issues like the developer’s security fencing still being up can be resolved prior to an official opening.

“What people have to remember is Manea is a growing village and more people will want to use the train service, especially if we get more trains stopping here in the future.”

Among the comments posted on social media following the national media coverage included a post from one person who said “I Know it will increase the value of my home exponentially, what I would like to see is an hourly service in both directions.

“I think it’s an excellent piece of an integrated transport policy.”

Locals told the Fenland Citizen they felt the car park would prove an asset long term, and that for once the authorities had got things right by “future proofing” the car park.

“It’s not about how many are using it today, but how many people will be using it in the future. Manea is growing fast and so there will be more people to use the train service,” said one resident, who added: “The idea is for people from places like Chatteris, Doddington and Wimblington to come here to use the trains and they will need somewhere to park.

“I’m sure when we get more trains stopping, more people will use the station and the car will be used a lot more, so it is good they have future proofed it now.”

While another man commented: “It is good to have money being spent in Manea instead of somewhere else, we don’t often see that.”

Another pointed out that when the rail service is improved there will be more demand and the car park will come into its own.

And a young mum said: “It is an asset, plain and simple. The car park will get used, people don’t know it’s there as it has only just opened. But once word gets around and the weather changes I’m sure more people will use it.”

Another woman added: “I can’t believe the national press have tried to turn this into something negative. We are happy to have the car park, they appear to have only quoted the one or two people they found who were negative about it.”

The Facebook comments included one from a woman who had recently moved to Manea, she said: “Our station was one of the reasons why we chose to move to Manea. It’s a great asset to the village and the car park just adds to it.”

A resident living close to the station also commented on Facebook: “Everything I said about Manea and the car park was positive this morning. It’s made a difference to us here already along Station Road and outside our houses and pulling out onto the road.”

Another Station Road resident posted: “There is need for a car park, as there were always cars parked roadside leading up to the station which are better off in a car park (especially a free one) as the road ain’t the widest and a lot of big farm equipment goes up and down Station Road.”

Among the less positive comments saw one woman question the size of the car park, she said: “It’s a real asset having a rail service and the carpark in the village – I just wonder at the wisdom of having such a large carpark. Without a full rail timetable, maybe sometime in the future we’ll have more trains.”

While another asked why the car park had been built if there was no use for it, with the replies to her all pointing out it was needed.