A CONTRACTOR has been announced to complete Dursley's new car park.

A spokesman for Dursley Town Council said: "Following a competitive tender process, the council have appointed experienced civil engineering contractor Alun Griffiths (Contractors) Ltd.

"Regrettably, the project is not going to be completed in October and the new car park is not going to be available for this year’s walking festival.

"During the demolition process a rear wall of the Reliance House building was found to be retaining the land behind the wall and we have been required to strengthen this existing wall as part of our final design.

"This unexpected complication has resulted in time being lost for the investigation and design of the new structure required. We are working closely with our contractor to minimise the impact of our scheme, but it will require a longer construction period than originally estimated and the loss of at least one parking space.

"Our revised layout with this new wall and other minor changes including changing the flow of traffic to clockwise will be submitted to Stroud District Council imminently.

"Once these minor amendments have received permission we will be able to commence with the work on site.

The mayor, Cllr Neil Grecian said: “Up until now the project has gone very well and to plan, it was impossible to foresee the complication with the hidden retaining wall prior to the demolition and we are working closely with our consultants to solve the problems faced.

"Undoubtedly this will add costs to the scheme, but the town council will continue to monitor the costs closely and budget accordingly."