Building may be solution to hospital parking woes

Using Christchurch’s underoccupied Lichfield St car park building for hospital visitors would solve several problems at once, a city business leader says.

Hospital patients and visitors have reported struggling with poor conditions at the Deans Ave parkand-ride site, which is in use until a new building is built in 2020.

The temporary site, linked by a shuttle bus to the hospital 2km away, is unsealed, flood-prone and potholed.

It lacks good-quality shelter in bad weather, especially affecting those who are elderly, disabled or unwell.

Central-city business association chairman Brendan Chase said the 805-space Lichfield St building regularly had more than

500 parks free, and sometimes over

600.

The Christchurch City Councilowned building is three blocks from the hospital. The council recently extended its first-hourfree parking deal at the $31.3 million facility, which opened late last year.

Chase said the costs of the building’s vacancies ‘‘far exceed’’ the cost to the council of the freehour incentive.

‘‘It needs to be promoted so that it doesn’t sit there more than half empty every day.

‘‘Council has a civic responsibility to use its assets in ways that best benefit the community.’’

Chase said with the central city still only partly rebuilt, the new parking building would be an ideal stop gap for hospital parking. It was accessible, clean and dry, safe, and could be linked to the hospital with a shuttle service like the one running now to Deans Ave, he said.

The plan would bring more people into the Cashel St retail precinct to patronise shops and cafes, Chase said, and would help promote the parking building.

Christchurch City councillor Deon Swiggs said he asked staff to look at the council’s options to help with hospital parking. Those would include using Lichfield St.

‘‘That’s definitely an idea that should be looked at. The building has the necessary infrastructure.

‘‘If you could just portion out some spaces and then extend the shuttle service, it could work well.’’

Swiggs said the council, Canterbury District Health Board and local MPs needed to work on the issue together.

‘‘We need to look at all the options again. It’s not necessarily council’s responsibility, but it’s a civic duty and it’s our citizens using the public hospital.’’

Fellow city councillor and Canterbury District Health Board member Aaron Keown described the Deans Ave site as ‘‘horrendous’’ and said he would support the Lichfield St proposal if it could be made to work.

‘‘All options are worth looking at. We’re being given updates at board level that parking at Deans Ave is working well.

‘‘But people have no choice and the public are certainly not happy. It’s a massive problem.’’

Issues that would have to be addressed included parking charges and the extra shuttle cost if two sites were used, Keown said.