“Vital” council income from a new Bath car park that may not open until March is being lost, Conservatives say.
More than 100 spaces in the temporary car park may not be used until March 2022 | Photo © Stephen Sumner
Trees were cut down and public toilets demolished at the former Riverside coach park to make way for more than 100 parking spaces ahead of the redevelopment of the Avon Street car park.
Work finished earlier this year but so far the only users are skaters making use of the vacant, flat space in Green Park Road.
The site sits in the second phase of Bath and North East Somerset Council’s flagship Bath Quays North project and had been set for redevelopment in 2024.
The temporary car park was meant to offset the loss of spaces in Avon Street but the scheme has been knocked off schedule by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Conservative group leader Vic Pritchard said a “substantial” number of residents had raised concerns, adding: “Unfortunately, this temporary car park remains closed. This means the council is losing out on vital income and members of the public have fewer places to park their cars in the city centre.
“I call on the administration to find a solution as quickly as possible so the Green Park Road car park can open before the redevelopment of the Avon Street car park takes place.”
The first phase of the Bath Quays North project will see the Avon Street car park replaced with five buildings housing office space, 92 flats, a 130-bed hotel, shops and a 413-space basement car park.
It had been set for completion at the start of 2024.
Plans for the former coach park, which closed last November, propose “two further new buildings” that will “follow soon after subject to market conditions”.
The temporary car park had been scheduled to open at the start of the year ahead of the vacant possession of Avon Street over the summer. Signs up in the Green Park Road site say it would be closed from 28th July until 28th February next year.
An officer told the Conservative group the car park’s opening was delayed by the pandemic but options were being reviewed.
B&NES Council has been approached for comment.
Stephen Sumner, Local Democracy Reporter
