COUNCILLOR Martin Trollope- Bellew was right to cast doubt on the car parking proposals for the new training centre at the former Myle Cross school site in Lincoln (July 27) and I applaud him for his comment.

Lincolnshire County Council's future parking assumptions appear to be based on comparisons with the number of site visits to the former school and national statistics based on usage of floor area.

Both of these comparisons do not take into account the operational nature of the site.

Forty-nine parking spaces may well be appropriate for the full-time staff but we now know, thanks to the Echo, that a further 150 field officers will also be based there.

In addition, an unspecified number of teachers and school governors from across the county will also visit the site for training purposes.

The number of visits to the school site on Macaulay Drive was the cause of severe congestion, but it was only for a very brief period of a few minutes twice a day.

The training centre, with 45 permanent staff and 150 field officers plus an unspecified number of trainees, will result in a completely different set of parking issues.

It is complete nonsense for the county council's consultants to suggest that because there is a bus stop nearby with good links to all areas of the city that the site is accessible by public transport, therefore the need for parking spaces can be reduced.

Even if the public transport plan could be enforced as opposed to encouraged and monitored, the cost – in terms of the time taken to travel to and from the site – would be unaffordable.

Trainees would be spending more time travelling than training. And their absence from the school would have to be covered by agency staff.

During the consultation period, I asked if the council intended submitting a separate planning application to provide extended car parking for the scheme, as in the previous application which was withdrawn in April.

As I received no response to the issue, would it be reasonable to assume that the extended parking provision was withdrawn in order for the council to save money?

NORMAN HAIGH Macaulay Drive, Lincoln.