It appears parking problems in St Mary's Lands are not being made significantly worse by Warwickshire County Council employees who benefit from cheaper permits, according to figures released under the Freedom of Information act.
Following a story published in the Courier last month, a request was made to find out how many permits the county council owned and how much the cost was subsidised for their employees.
But figures released this week suggest such fears are misplaced.
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Click here to email your reportFreedom of Information officer Donna Parker said: "In 2005 the county council decided to buy a total of 51 parking permits from Warwick District Council - 25 for St Nicholas Park and 26 for St Mary's Lands Area 2, which is by the members' enclosure of the racecourse.
"The district council permits are valid for 12 months from December 1, and it was agreed that we could exchange the St Mary's Lands Area 2 permits for those valid at Area 4 (Saltisford) when that car park had been built.
"A total of 12 people decided to do so."
The Courier highlighted town centre residents' concerns, who believed what was formerly an "empty" car park in Saltisford and known as St Mary's Lands Area 4, was not serving the best interests of townsfolk.
A sudden influx of cars had started parking at the site, which residents said "conveniently coincided" with the moving of the county council's education department into new offices in that area of town.
Ms Parker added: "The county council owns the office accommodation in Saltisford and about 350 staff moved into the newly-completed buildings in late August.
"There are 128 car parking spaces available on the site and it is very unlikely that the county council will renew the permits for the district council car parks when they expire at the end of November.
"The permits cost the county council £225 each and this price reflects a discount for a bulk purchase.
"The county council staff now using district council car parks were required to give up their permits valid for the county council staff car parks."
The normal cost for an annual permit to park in St Mary's Lands is £275.
