AN EXTRA meeting of BCP Council’s scrutiny board will be held later this month to examine the decision to sell a public car park in Christchurch.

A day before the deal for the Bypass site is set to be given the final approval of the full council, councillors will be given a chance to review the decision, following concerns raised by the town's mayor.

At Wednesday's cabinet meeting, councillor Lesley Dedman said there were unanswered questions around the deal agreed with the landlords of Waitrose.

The deal was drawn-up between the council and the owners of the supermarket building, a General Motors pension fund, after the chain warned it could pull out of the town without greater control of the car park.

Negotiations started under the previous Unity Alliance administration but approval of the deal was only given by the council’s cabinet on Wednesday.

But concerns about the terms of the sale, including a ten-year limit on a buy-back clause should the land no longer be needed as a car park, prompted the chairman of the council’s scrutiny board, councillor Stephen Bartlett, to call in the decision for further examination.

Cllr Dedman said a buy-back clause allowing the council to repurchase the site should it no longer be needed for car parking only lasted for ten years.

She has also raised concerns about the impact the deal could have on parking in the town centre, particularly with the now-approved police station site resulting in the loss of spaces nearby.

But the decision to bring forward April's full council meeting to March 23, a move made due to concerns it was scheduled too close to May's elections, has required an extra meeting of his committee to be called.

Now, it will meet on Monday, March 22, to examine the car park sale.

Its members could then make recommendations before the full council is asked to give final approval for the deal the following day.