Plans to build a new car park in outer Marlow have been withdrawn amid concerns over antisocial behaviour and biodiversity – despite pleas for more parking space by local businesses.

The facility would have been built on Fieldhouse Lane next to the A404 at Globe Business Park and created over 250 spaces companies in the complex including Marlow’s biggest employer, tech firm Softcat.

The proposals put forward by the business park improvement district alongside landowner Folbro Y Ltd also suggested it would facilitate delivery of the Little Marlow Lakes Country Park, a long-awaited and yet-to-be realised green space in the Little Marlow area.

While the parking area would be unlikely to solve long-term parking issues in the town centre – better served by a park and ride service, co-chair of The Marlow Society Andrew Wood suggests – the plans would replace unofficial parking spaces already in use by companies at the business park and could offset overflow onto nearby residential roads.

However, what looks at face value like a sensible scheme has met with resistance partly for its choice of protected greenbelt land – necessitating a biodiversity quota that the Environment Agency is not sure the current plans meet.

Thames Valley Police also lodged an objection on the grounds of insufficient controls against “crime and antisocial behaviour” on the land, throwing another spanner into the works.

The plans’ withdrawal likely means its developers are going back to the drawing board to take such criticisms into account – but plenty of local voices have also spoken out in support since they were submitted earlier this year.

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Unsurprisingly, Globe Park stakeholders were unanimously in support of the project – with Softcat CEO Graham Charlton describing a car park on Fieldhouse Lane as “essential for our business, staff and to mitigate any impact on the neighbouring community”.

And Jon Williams, CEO of The Marlow Club gym, similarly said it would “provide very much needed parking facilities and promote a more accessible business requirement”.

Chesham-based charity The Chiltern Society also suggested that the facility would be a “major move forward” in the country park plans – especially in its delivery of an upgraded footpath and cycleway connecting the would-be open space to local Public Rights of Way.

And local charity and amenity group The Marlow Society summed up the attitude of others toeing the line between approval and opposition to the new car park in its conditional support of “additional parking for the Globe Park businesses” so long as “the demand meets the very special circumstances for greenbelt development”.