A VAST £18 million car park has reportedly been taken over by “boy racers” and turned into an “ASBO playground” after being left abandoned.

The 50-bay site was built using taxpayer money as part of a major infrastructure scheme promoted by the local mayor but now lies empty every day.

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The car park outside Soham railway station in Cambridgeshire was opened in 2021, having undergone the multi-million pound redevelopment.

Its return, after laying derelict for over 50 years, was heavily pushed by then-mayor of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) James Palmer.

As part of the refurb, a vast car park large enough for 50 vehicles was installed alongside the platform.

But locals claim that the site has sat virtually empty ever since.

Drone photos of the car park, taken last week, show it to be entirely empty, with no cars anywhere to be seen.

The only things visibly filling any spaces were a port a loo cabin and a bank of EV chargers.

According to the people living in the area, the car park is now only sees use when “boy racers” fancy practising their handbrake turns.

Donna Martin said: “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.

“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.”

Fellow resident Robert Chippett added: “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.”

Even worse, the station provides no direct link to Cambridge, the biggest city in the area, and sees just 55,000 “entries and exits” a year.

For reference, Cambridge sees nine million and even Ely accounts for almost two million.

The only station of note it appears to link to is Manea Station, just 20 minutes up the tracks, which was also involved in the mayor’s project and boasts its own completely empty 112-space car park.

SunMotors has contacted the CPCA for comment.

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