RELIEF has come for a Rame Peninsula village with the news its car park will now not be leased out to a third party operator.

Cawsand was one of 25 car parks whose management was set to be transferred from Cornwall Council to Corserv Solutions with the day-to-day running managed by another separate company.

Locals had feared the loss of vital residents’ permit spaces, which the local authority had said were not guaranteed, had to be protected after the transfer.

And in common with other places around Cornwall, the local council and residents were worried about a rise in charges they felt would be an inevitable follow-on to the change.

Rame Peninsula Cornwall Councillor, Kate Ewert, said that the decision was a “brilliant result for Cawsand, for local residents and for common sense”.

“I’m delighted to have been informed that we have saved Cawsand carpark from being leased out,” she said. “Huge thanks go to the many residents and Maker with Rame Parish Council who helped me gather evidence, submitted comments and pulled together in the way that this community does best.”

Cornwall Council has not as yet fully explained the detail behind the decision, but in an email said that it had “taken into account the various feedback” in deciding to keep the car park under local authority control.

Vice chairman of Maker with Rame Parish Council, Jon Kidd, said: “We are delighted for the community. Everyone worked so hard for this outcome. We await the detail and we will continue our efforts to ensure that the car park remains a community asset for the future.”