ONE of Hereford's biggest and cheapest car parks is to be reduced to less than one third of its capacity when work begins on the city's new link road this spring.

Hereford's City Link Road –which will 'link' Edgar Street and Commercial Road – was the subject of a public inquiry last May and given the go-ahead in October.

And Herefordshire Council this week announced that Merton Meadow car park, on Widemarsh Street, is to be reduced from 763 spaces to around 200 for around six months while it is used to construct part of the new road and to store machinery.

In a statement, the council said: "Merton Meadow car park holds around 763 vehicles and the average number of vehicles that park on the car park is around 590 per day.

"When Merton Meadow partially closes for the construction of the link road there will be a temporary loss of around 559 spaces leaving around 200. Therefore around 359 vehicles will be displaced from the car park. We foresee the closure being in place for around six months.

"Occupancy counts of the council’s public car parks and the private car parks within the city show that there is enough spare parking availability for vehicles that have been displaced from Merton Meadow car park."

Merton Meadow is one of the largest and cheapest car parks in Hereford, costing £3 to park all day.

Friars Street car park and Station Approach car park are also available at £3 all day while most others cost between £4 and £4.70 for more than four hours.

In May 2014, a week-long public inquiry weighed the public benefits of the project against the rights of city centre business owners who had been issued Compulsory Purchase Orders – which legally force them to sell their land.

And in October, a decision from the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government confirmed that 'a compelling case in the public interest had been made'.

When completed, the long-awaited infrastructure project will also see 800 homes built on or near Merton Meadow.

Herefordshire Council said the proposed link road is designed to alleviate some of the volume of heavy traffic from Hereford's inner ring road.

"The council provides over 2,000 spaces in the city and these can be found on our car parking pages," the statement added.

"During the works temporary signing will be in place to provide advance warning of the changes to parking arrangements."