RESIDENTS of Lacock are worried tourists may start stealing their parking spaces after the National Trust started charging at its visitor car park on Wednesday.

New parking meters are being installed in the Hither Way car park and parking will cost from £1 for up to three hours or £2 a day. National Trust members will be able to park free by displaying their NT car stickers but there will be no exception for residents.

Graham Heard, National Trust property manager for Lacock, said: "We need to ensure that we have the capacity to look after Lacock in perpetuity. "Many of the 300,000 visitors a year to Lacock have historically parked for free and enjoyed a stroll around the village without making a contribution to the National Trust, which as a charity is responsible for the upkeep of Lacock and many other unique places in Britain.

"We need to look at every opportunity to raise the necessary income to maintain Lacock as one of the most beautiful villages in the country.

"As a charity, we already raise money to help maintain the countryside we manage on behalf of the nation through charges at over 90 car parks and our research shows that people are quite happy to pay when they understand that the money is needed to preserve a slice of our heritage."

Dick Tonge, a North Wiltshire district councillor, said: "They put a planning application in about three months ago for solar powered ticket machines so we have known about it for a while.

"The concern in the village is that people may try and avoid using the car park and park in the centre of Lacock and that is going to ruin the beauty of the village.

"Also, residents' parking spaces may be taken as well if people try and park in the residential streets. "The residents of Lacock don't use the car park usually as they have parking by their houses so that issue is neither here nor there."

It costs the National Trust £600,000 a year to manage Lacock, including maintaining the 90 cottages, the Abbey and its grounds, as well as the Fox Talbot Museum. The Trust will also be creating six new disabled car parking spaces in the car park.