A council’s decision to sell off two car parks has been put on hold after opposition councillors called in the decision for more scrutiny.

The decision to sell Union Place car park in Chatham and the Temple Street car park in Strood was made at Medway Council's cabinet meeting in December.

The plans received unanimous support from cabinet members, but six Conservative councillors are now asking for a complete reversal.

They’ve called in the decision to sell the two car parks, which means it will have to go before the regeneration, culture and environment overview and scrutiny committee for councillors to debate and decide how the proposals should proceed.

They say the car parks should be retained for “the benefit of the community and local businesses who rely on such facilities”.

Tory leader Cllr Adrian Gulvin explained his group had concerns about the negative impacts on businesses around the sites and said he did not believe all options had been considered, such as adding a new entrance to the Union Street car park.

He said: “A lot of our group have been lobbied by local businesses who are really complaining about this decision. We want to ask what’s the business case for these sites, does it stack up?

“Although the Union Place car park is only small, by taking that car park away it’s not helping the viability of businesses in that area.

“The car park could be kept, though a new entrance is needed because the current one is now not an option, but I’ve previously been told this would cost under £100,000 to do.

“If that isn’t actually an option, then there’s more of a case for selling it but we haven’t had a definitive report as to whether it is or not.

“The income from these car parks, while it might not sound a lot, all adds up to a steady income. Yes, you get a one-off capital receipt of a couple hundred thousand pounds by selling it, but that money is soon gone.

“What the council really needs is this steady stream of revenue coming in and car parking has a considerable contribution to make towards that.

“What worries me is this administration seems to be getting an anti-car mentality. Whether we like it or not, people will not shop in places where they cannot park their cars easily.

“I think what’s more important is the vitality of our town centres and the jobs that they create.

“I’m just not sure they have thought about all the possible options.”

When deciding to sell the lots, cabinet members cited the fact that the Union Place car park was no longer accessible - as the road leading to it was privately owned and the owner had withdrawn permission - as one of the reasons for the sale.

They also said the car parks would offer more value through redevelopment than they did from the revenue they collected.

For the Temple Street car park, they said the loss of spaces would be minimal as there was still the Commercial Road car park nearby.

The two car parks have a total of 122 spaces.

In response, the Labour Group described the call-in as “baffling” and suggested that Tory councillors were uninformed about the situation.

They said: ”The reasons that Medway Conservatives have given for calling in this decision are baffling, and it seems as if they haven't even bothered to read the cabinet papers.

“Union St car park isn't in use due to the only available access over private land being removed, and Temple Street has an average of 38 paid hours a day, nearly half of 73 available spaces.

“We inherited a £17m blackhole in this year's budget and are dealing with a 91% reduction in revenue support grant from central government since 2010.

“There are lots of difficult financial decisions we are having to consider to tackle this problem including looking at our property portfolio.

“However, the sale of two car parks was an easy and obvious call as they are both currently underused, the communities are served by other car parks in close proximity, and they are both key in unlocking strategic redevelopment in our town centres, one of the pledges we were voted in to deliver on.”

Council officers have provided a response to be considered at the committee meeting which said an alternative entrance to Union Place car park would be expensive and would reduce the number of parking spaces.

They also said the loss of Temple Street car park was mitigated by the nearby Commercial Road car park and that the revenue from both sites proposed for sale is not substantial enough to impact council finances.

The matter will be discussed at the regeneration, culture and environment overview and scrutiny committee on January 23 where councillors will decide whether the proposal needs changing or not.