CHEPSTOW carnival could be in jeopardy if a car park row at the Severn Bridge social club cannot be resolved.

The Severn Bridge social club in Bulwark is currently battling to convince Monmouthshire county council to renew a £7,000 lease on their car park. The council currently rent the space next to the club, which is used as a free car park by the local community as well as being the starting point for the annual carnival.

Chris Lewis secretary of the club has said: "This is a sickener for the community, we are appalled that the council is not going to renew the licence.

"We actively run with the carnival community and if the council do not pay the lease then we will lose the starting point of the event.

"I don't know where else they could start the carnival from because of the safety issue and there needs to be space to prepare the floats they travel on. Money is not the issue here, if they want to talk to us about changing the price of the lease then we will sit down and talk to them about it.

"The problem is the fact that they are willing to offload this car park which is so important to our community.

"The officers at the council were told to get in contact with us so we could resolve this issue, but we haven't heard from anybody yet and time is running out."

There are re-cycling facilities and a public toilet in the car park which would be lost if the lease is no longer paid and many community groups use the car park such as local ramblers and Bulwark football club.

Some councillors have said the car park would be better used for commuters going to Bristol and Newport.

Cllr Graham Down, deputy leader of the county council, recently said: "We are paying for a car park which isn't used at the moment.

"Chepstow needs a commuter car park and this is ideally located."