THORNBURY looks set to lose one of its town centre car parks after a current lease runs out.

South Gloucestershire Council confirmed this week that it would not be renewing its lease for the short-stay Castle Court car park, off the High Street, when it ends in January 2013.

This end date has given the authority less than 18 months to find a replacement for the 78 free short-stay parking spaces that will be lost in the town.

Shop owners in the High Street have said the news has created uncertainty about future trade in the town.

Sue Aitken, who owns Thornbury Garden Shop, which is just yards from the car park, said: "It’s good news for the short term but it doesn’t help with the long term planning, which you need with business.

"We need to keep the pressure on the council to start planning now what they are going to do."

Fellow trader Keith Braford, of Thornbury Book Shop, said: "This is going to affect the town centre and makes things a little bit uncertain. It also makes you wonder what’s going to go there."

Rowena Moncrieffe, chairman of Thornbury Chamber of Commerce, said she would be speaking with South Gloucestershire Council about car parking in the town and the future of the Castle Court short-stay.

The 0.67 acre site behind the town’s High Street was put up for sale by its owners NatWest Bank earlier this year.

South Gloucestershire Council had leased the land for the car park from the bank for more than 40 years but when the historic lease came to an end last July the two parties failed to reach an agreement.

The lease deadline had been extended several times during the last year while negotiations continued but now the council has said it does not plan to renew the lease beyond January 2013.

A spokesman for the council said: "The council has entered into a lease for the car park with owners NatWest Bank, which will terminate on January 31, 2013. The lease can also be terminated on September 30, 2012, upon the landlord giving no less than three months' notice in writing.

"The council is currently looking at options for replacement of the short stay facility including the possible conversion of some of the spaces in the adjacent long stay car park to short stay spaces."

Thornbury has five free car parks, Park Road, Castle Court long-stay and short-stay, Rock Street and St Mary Street.