Vicus Way car park criticised over 'shocking' drug use and antisocial behaviour

Vicus Way car park in Maidenhead has been criticised over ‘shocking’ drug use and antisocial behaviour taking place there.

The car park cost the Royal Borough £14 million to build - and, according to the cabinet member for highways, needs a further £70,000 a month to run.

However, it has suffered with low usage since it opened in 2022, with visitor numbers only recently starting to pick up following a marketing campaign by the council.

Fears have been raised that this low usage has made Vicus Way a ‘prime location’ for antisocial behaviour.

A resident living near the car park, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the Advertiser:

“What we see, almost on a daily basis, is really quite shocking.

“Only the other day there was a young boy with a hoody on slumped over a corner of the car park smoking something – it didn’t look like cigarette.

“This happens quite often, sometimes someone’s smoking on their own or sometimes it’s in a group.”

In addition to drug taking, the resident also reported frequent sightings of drug deals.

“People walk in with a backpack on and pace around for half an hour - then someone turns up in a car, there’s been an exchange of a package and then they drive off,” they added.

“From what I see, that [Vicus Way] is the prime location where they know they aren’t going to be bothered.”

Vicus Way sits in Maidenhead’s Oldfield constituency and ward councillor Geoff Hill (tBfI), who is also the cabinet member for highways and transport, confirmed he had received reports of drug crime in the car park.

When the council receives a report of antisocial behaviour, Cllr Hill said a patrol of community wardens would be dispatched to investigate – as well as a report made to the police.

But he added: “It’s a very difficult thing to stop because you’ve got to catch them in the act – quite literally.”

Cllr Hill also acknowledged there were problems beyond drug crime.

He said: “I've seen kids skateboarding from the top to the bottom [of the car park].

"It’s been used as the most expensive skate park in Maidenhead - a £14 million skateboard park.

“It’s burning cash every month that we can ill afford to lose.”

Cllr Hill and fellow Oldfield councillor Helen Taylor (tBfI) campaigned against the car park being built.

Cllr Taylor added: “It's always concerning to hear reports of this nature and I am not really sure what the answer is currently, as the issue just seems to move from car park to car park, however Cllr Hill has requested extra patrols in the car park.”

In addition to more community warden patrols, Cllr Hill said the council was ‘aggressively marketing’ Vicus Way, which had seen average use increase from 5 per cent to 20 per cent.

Discussing whether the car park would ever repay its cost he said: “Optimistically yes, but it’s going to take decades to recoup the investment – we’ve got to exceed the cost which is approximately £70,000 a month just to keep the lights on.

“So yes, it is a problem I really don’t know whether we will win.”

A council spokesperson said: “Vicus Way car park is covered by modern CCTV monitored by our 24/7 control room and any evidence of suspected illegal activity is passed to Thames Valley Police to investigate.

“Car parks across the country can be locations where anti-social behaviour (ASB) occurs, however we have not seen an increase in reported ASB at Vicus Way and our community wardens patrol our car parks to identify and discourage such behaviour.

“We would encourage anyone who witnesses drug-related offences anywhere in the borough to report this to the police or, anonymously, to Crimestoppers.”