Parks lost:

The central city will lose 205 car parks, but it will keep its angle parking after auditors predicted an increase in crashes if the parks were changed.

The Traffic Planning Consultants report to the Palmerston North City Council has prompted changes to the proposed layout for Square East, the section between Church St and Main St, and extending to Broadway Ave.

The makeover is part of a total $26.6 million redesign of the streetscape around The Square and including Main St East and Broadway.

About a third of the car parks will go, including those along the central median island, with 205 car parks in total planned to go through the total central city area. The eastern edge of The Square alone will lose 19 car parks.

Angle parking will remain around the perimeter of The Square after safety auditors predicted there would be frequent crashes if vehicles parked head-on to the kerb.

It would require vehicles to swing wide to nose into car parks and to back out into the vehicle lane before they could see approaching cars and buses.

City planner David Murphy said the consultants’ advice was that 90-degree parking would be ‘‘problematic’’ while 8000 vehicles a day continued to drive around The Square.

The consultants said although any crashes were likely to be at low speed they had significant safety concerns for drivers and cyclists.

The overall goal of the makeover was to make the streets around The Square more pedestrian-friendly.

‘‘It’s almost as if it’s all planned around The Plaza and stuff the rest of the town.’’ Bruce Watt Photography owner Dave Edmonds