Ipswich Borough Council is planning to develop more spaces on its public car park behind the Regent Theatre at the bottom of Woodbridge Road.

It has bought a strip of land between the existing car park and The Mulberry Tree pub and hopes to clear it to allow the small expansion of the facilities.

Council leader David Ellesmere said the borough had finally managed to buy the land at auction after missing out on it at an earlier sale.

He said: “This will enable us to create some more spaces in what is quite a popular car park – especially among those people going to productions at the theatre.”

The council will now have to apply to itself for planning permission to develop the parking spaces – but that is not expected to be a major obstacle.

The existing car park was developed on the site of the former Ipswich Caribbean Centre which closed in 2010.