Civic chiefs have approved more than £500,000 to maintain the district's car parks.

This comes after the multi-storey car parks at Bar End and Chesil Street were recently subject to graffiti and vandalism.

Winchester City Council's cabinet approved the additional funds of £580,000, subject to full council, at the meeting on January 25.

Cllr Kelsie Learney said: “Easy access to our city is essential for the economic vibrancy of our district. It's also key for our residents to access doctors and dentists.

“A lot of time has been spent dealing with anti-social behaviour which has done a lot of damage to our car parks. This is something we need to stay on top of.”

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Two city councillors gave deputations to the cabinet to share their concerns.

Cllr Malcolm Wallace said: "The latest data shows that transport makes up 57 per cent of all CO2 emissions in the district. Of the £580,000 the cabinet is being asked to approve, only £20,000 or less than four per cent is to support cycling provisions. We need to try and support alternative cycling solutions."

Cllr Neil Bolton said: “There are many car parks in the wider district which have become crime and fly-tipping hot spots. How do we improve these areas for the wider community?”

Cllr Learney said: “We don't want to be too city focussed, we want to know about car parks which are a problem across the district.”

Cllr Jackie Porter asked about potential improvements to bike security. 

Cllr Learney said: “We are looking at more secure forms of bike parking. One of area we're looking at is bike hangers for people who don't have access to their own storage. However, this does require people to sign up to a service, it's not just something we can put on the street and let people use as that defeats the 'security' object of it. 

“Cycling is a very important method of transport for so many people.”