Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
‘Stopgap’ station parking idea
A commuter is urging transport chiefs to use redundant land for temporary parking while the Station Road West car park is redeveloped.
Solicitor Jeremy Baker, an authority on transport issues, says there is disused railway land available behind the Goods Shed in the same road, plus land in Pound Lane which is part of the Barretts site.
Mr Baker supports the council’s expansion of Station Road West but fears contingency plans for temporary parking will not cover the loss of spaces while the redevelopment goes on.
Work on the proposed doubledecker car park will not start until at least next year and will first have to go through design and planning stages.
Canterbury City Council has been wrangling with how to accommodate motorists who occupy the car park’s current provision of 129 spaces.
It intends to create a temporary 80-space car park on wasteland in Station Road West beyond the train station and is suggesting drivers also use Pound Lane and St Radigund’s Street and walk to the train station.
But Mr Baker argues this will still leave motorists without adequate parking.
Presenting his ideas to a meeting of councillors, he said: “Dozens of people will still be left with nowhere to park every day of the week except Sundays. My suggestions are close to the station.
“The first is the overgrown redundant railway land in Station Road West.
“It has the advantage of being next to the council’s temporary car park and could be operated seamlessly as part of that.
“My other suggestion is the yard and forecourt in front of the former car workshops at Barretts in Pound Lane, which are now vacant.
“This could act as an overflow for the existing Pound Lane car park, which will be permanently full once Station Road closes for the work.”
Earlier this year the council announced it intends to sell-off Rosemary Lane and Hawks Lane car parks, losing 140 spaces, which it will make up with a twotier car park in Station Road.
Mr Baker says his ideas are a response to a council call for ideas on where cars can park during the work.
He added: “I trust the council would agree it is vital to provide temporary parking to match the size of the car park which is closing.
“I would ask whether the council would support my suggestions and look at how this might be done.”
The suggestion will go forward for consideration to the council’s transportation manager, Richard Moore.
What do you think of Mr Baker’s ideas? Email kentishgazette@ thekmgroup. co. uk or write to Gazette House, Estuary View Business Park, Whitstable, CT5 3SE.