£9m multi-storey in city centre gets green light

The £9 million plan for a new multi-storey car park in Canterbury has been given the go-ahead despite claims it is “commercial lunacy”.

The 380-space facility, earmarked for the existing car park site in Station Road West, has doubled in cost since extra work, including diverting sewers, was identified.

And it led to angry outbursts at a full meeting of the council last Thursday when the plan was recommended for approval.

“This is probably the craziest proposal this council has ever put forward since I was elected many years ago,” said Liberal Democrat councillor Michael Dixey.

“It is just multi-storey madness and commercial lunacy. There is currently adequate capacity in the existing car park for the next 17 years.

“Why are we investing more than £9 million on a building, which will never pay its way?”

He said it “beggared belief” that a report on the scheme assumed no loss of income while the new car park was being built and no provision had been made for long-term depreciation and main- tenance of the building. He was also concerned that a sprinkler system was not included, which he said was even more vital following the recent Liverpool Arena multi-storey fire in which 1,400 cars were destroyed.

Cllr Alan Baldock (Labour) said the council should be looking at a green agenda to discourage people driving into the city.

“Spending £9m to attract even more traffic is completely and utterly ridiculous,” he said.

Cllr Nick Eden-green (Lib Dem) added: “To pay that amount on a car park and we can’t build social housing for our people? This is nuts.”

The car park’s eye-watering cost will be borrowed and paid back over a 27-year period. It is then expected to generate more than £1 million a year in income.

The spending was defended by council leader Simon Cook (Cons) who said it was not a choice between the car park and social housing, because the authority can, and is, doing both.

“The green agenda question is a fair one but this is allowing people to make use of the most environmentally friendly form of mass transport we have,” he said.

Cllr Ben Fitter-harding (Cons) added: “It is vital to the city and its businesses that need to exploit the connection to London.

“We are also looking at a Boris bike-type scheme so people can get to the station without using their cars.”

Cllr Jenny Samper (Cons) said it would be good for business and trade in the St Dunstan’s and Westgate area which had not had the focus of Whitefriars at the other end of the city.

“Expensive as it is, in the long term it will turn out to be an asset,” she said.

The recommendation to give it the go-ahead was approved by councillors by 24 votes to six.

Work on the new multi-storey, which will be fitted with automatic number-plate recognition technology, is not expected to start before 2019.

Cllr Michael Dixey says the decision is probably the craziest proposal the city council has made