Car park owners blast council over closure

A temporary car park has operated on land off Southgate owned by Nick Allen and Rob Wilcox for the last 14 years.

Although they also had planning permission to build eight shops, six offices and eight flats on the site, a decline in the retail market leaving 26 empty shop units in the town meant North Kesteven District Council gave them temporary permission to run it as a car park

Nick Allen said: "It has been a real success, taking around 1,300 tickets a week – that’s an awful lot of car movements for a 40-space car park.”

An extension of the temporary permission was refused by NKDC two years ago which was upheld on appeal, giving the owners six months to before being ordered to close it by June 8 or face enforcement action.

A fence has been erected to keep vehicles and the public off the site and Mr Allen added a sign laying the blame for its closure squarely at the door of NKDC.

He said NKDC blocked the car park as it did not fit in with their development plan for the town and a long term ambition to pedestrianise Southgate

He added: “The council would like us to build the shops, but currently there are 14 empty units just from the railway station to the market place.

"Our estate agents describe high street retail units as ‘toxic’ at the moment and we will not be building more in the town centre. I cannot see any common sense in it. A lot of our customers were older or disabled and wanted to park closer to the shops.”

He said they would explore all options. "I’m hoping for a change of government and policy.”

NKDC insists there are still hundreds of low-cost and free off-street car parking spaces in Sleaford – despite the current closure of Westgate car park due to an unstable building and the impending pedestrianisation of the Market Place car park meaning parking will end there from July 19.

David Steels, Assistant Director of Environment & Public Protection at NKDC, acknowledged the inconvenience of having three central car parks simultaneously out of action but added that Sleaford remains well-served with regular and dedicated blue-badge provision.

He said: “The unscheduled closure of Westgate cannot be helped but we are all working hard to resolve, as swiftly as possible, the issues that restrict access currently. Southgate was never designated for parking, but permitted temporary use that a planning inspector agrees is no longer appropriate.”

It was pointed out that prevention of pedestrian access and blocking the footbridge to Millstream Square were actions are “at the owners’ discretion” and the council never insisted that there must be public liability insurance in place.

The cumulative effect is a loss of 117 spaces, 16 per cent of the 715 off-street public parking spaces available on weekdays. When Westgate is returned to use, the impact will shrink to a 12 per cent reduction in availability, according to NKDC.

Across the seven other council-operated car parks, there remain almost 500 places available; 33 of them currently designated as disabled bays. At weekends this increases to 650 when the Lafford Terrace spaces become available – for free. Additionally a further 550 spaces are provided privately at Jermyn Street and at the two supermarkets for their customers, says NKDC.

Mr Steels added: "The removal of car parking, in the main, from the Market Place supports long-held, shared aspirations to reconfigure the space as a more successful public square where pedestrians and market customers are no longer in conflict with moving vehicles and where markets and events, like this week’s D-Day commemorations, can take place more readily."

There will be short-term work prior to July 19 at Church Lane and Money’s Yard to add more disabled parking bays in addition to those included in the Market Place scheme.