MULTI-STOREY car parks could be built in Yate Shopping Centre to urbanise the town and attract more shoppers.

Several multi-level car parking areas are being considered by shopping centre owners the Dominion Trust in a drive to reorganise parking areas and make the town centre more accessible.

Plans being investigated include ripping out trees along South Parade and erecting a car park between the post office and the former Adams clothing store.

A multi-storey car park could also be built on part of the leisure centre car park or on the Kennedy Way doctors' surgery site.

Town councillor Chris Willmore said: "We have run out of space in our town centre. If we want any more shops or facilities in the town we have to start generating more car parking."

She said the public needed to be consulted on all the proposals and to give their views on the future of Yate's town centre.

"The question is what do we want Yate to look like in the future?" she said. "Do we want Yate to be a small commuter development on the edge of Bristol or do we want to intergrate Yate and Sodbury into one vibrant place?"

The changes sparked controversy at a meeting of Yate Town Council on Tuesday night.

Cllr Alan Lawrence said: "I have always been opposed to decked parking, it is just not suitable. There is a question of public safety."

He said there was still availability for parking in the overflow car park, on Link Road, which is hardly used by shoppers.

Cllr Mike Robbins said: "Decked car parking has to be integrated into shop buildings, like the Galleries in Bristol, so that people feel safe. If they stand alone it will not work."

Cllr Tony Davis said: "I am not very happy with the idea of taking out trees. That is the entrance to the shopping centre for the majority of people coming from south Yate.

"It might not be awe-inspiring but it is reasonably pleasant."

Some members of the council agreed the answer to solving car parking issues in the town would be to move Yate Fire Station and the ambulance base, both on Station Road, to a location on the edge of town.

Said Cllr Davis: "It must be murder trying to get appliances out of Yate Shopping Centre during the rush hour.

"I think it would be better to have those services somewhere they can get out much quicker than they do now."

The proposals are being discussed as part of South Gloucestershire Council's core strategy and there are no immediate plans for a public consultation.

Dominion property developer Mark Hull said the company would fund a car park for 20 spaces on South Parade but South Gloucestershire Council and NHS South Gloucestershire owned the other pieces of land where car parks could be built. He said: “Everyone does appreciate that the town is getting bigger but there is a limit to what we can and can’t do. “There is a greater pressure and need to extend car parking provision in the town but multi-storey car parks would be costly to put up and as we do not own the land we would not be funding it.”