Speaking on Sunday Cllr Kelly said: "The traffic situation in Wexford town has been beyond saturation point for far too long now and I welcome the efforts of those who have applied serious thought to this issue in an attempt to alleviate some of the towns most serious traffic problems.

"While there are many good elements to this plan, I would fear that some aspects are only a short term solution and feel that the Borough Council need to extend their imagination in order to deal with this problem in the long term.

"If 8 million Euro is to be spent then I will be looking for a breakdown of where this amount is to be spent and insisting that we get value for money.

"The fact that the Borough Council are completely depending on private enterprise to take a lead in providing multi-storey car parks and transport services is to be criticised.

"The notion of turning the Ferrybank area into a park and ride facility has been experimented with before. It did not work and is unlikely to work in the future. Indeed turning Ferrybank into a pay parking area would mean that what has traditionally been a free leisure and amenity area for all, would now cost people to visit.

"The basic problem is that too many cars are contesting too small an area. The volume of traffic is only set to increase in the future and the town simply cannot accommodate any more traffic in the short or long term.

"Town planners need to take a leap of imagination and to consider promoting out of town shopping centres which would free up the heart of the town. Some Councillors have mistakenly believed that out of town centres might detract business from the town but I am firmly of the view that such developments would actually enhance business in the town centre and would see this as a necessary future element in providing a long term solution to the towns gridlock crisis."