The £18million white elephant car park used by boy racers

A 50-space railway station car park which cost millions lies empty most days and is instead being used as a football pitch and a race track for boy racers. 

The brand new car park and railway station were built in the town of Soham as a part of a multi-pound scheme supported  by the then Tory Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Mayor James Palmer.

Mayor Palmer, who was booted out of office in 2021,  apparently wanted to bring back a station to his hometown.

Soham railway station reopened in 2021 but, rather than hailing the return of a train services to the Cambridgeshire town after a 55 year hiatus, residents have blasted the council for wasting taxpayers money on the car park which is 'always empty' and has simply become a 'playground for anti-social behaviour.'

Aerial pictures taken last Friday lunchtime show the station almost completely empty. 

Local resident Donna Martin said: 'The council cut down 400 trees and destroyed a wildlife area, which had three species of bird on the RSPB red list, lizards and great crested newts, and the car park isn't even used.

'The area was prevalent with wildlife but they got rid of it all to make a car park which is always empty, apart from when it is used as a playground for anti-social behaviour.

'The station and car park were never needed in the first place and now it is used by youngsters to race and skid their cars when it's raining or to play football late at night because it's flood lit.

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'They play loud music and shout at each other and four out of seven days a week there's things going on in the car park which shouldn't be.

'The unnecessary car park has also caused light pollution as the lights are left on all night, so it's never dark for us anymore. There aren't even any CCTV cameras and we're fed up with having to police the car park.

'We've asked the police to do drive-bys but they don't want to know. The car park has totally ruined the quality of life for everyone in this area.'

Another resident, Robert Chippett, wrote on Facebook: 'I would guess it costs more to administer the car parking than it takes in receipts.

'Most times I have dropped people at the station as a volunteer driver there has either been zero or one car!'

The car park, which has 50 space and an additional four disabled bays, is run by NCP and costs £3 a day, but most travellers prefer to opt for free parking across the town and walk to the station.

The station has no direct link to Cambridge and only has 55,000 'exits and entries' each year, compared to 1.94 million at nearby Ely and 9 million at Cambridge. It is currently ranks 15th out of 20 in the most used Cambridgeshire stations.

It was under Mayor Palmer that funding was also given to a new station car park in the nearby village of Manea, which opened last year with capacity for 112 vehicles and at a cost of £1million.

Eighteen months after opening it still averages only a handful of cars each day, many still opting to use nearby streets despite the car park being free and overseen by Fenland District Council.