Chesterfield council considers converting under-used car parks into new homes

Labour-led Chesterfield Borough Council’s cabinet approved increases to its town centre car park fees that will be introduced from April 1 despite opposition Liberal Democrat Leader Cllr Paul Holmes’ concerns that the price hike will reduce visitors and undermine the town centre.

Cllr Holmes has now raised further worries that the council could also be considering selling some of its car parks in the future for development where usage has fallen and where there is surplus space.

Cllr Holmes said: “Visitor numbers have already fallen so much that car park occupancy is 62per cent at its highest and 40per cent at its lowest. So, the council are now looking at closing down and selling off some car parks.”

A council car parking report was compiled after a study indicated a need to invest in the car parks and to reuse surplus land to support regeneration.

The study found that there is considerable spare capacity across council-owned car parks and there is sufficient spare capacity to remove car parks initially proposed for regeneration and it earmarked New Beetwell Street and the ‘Spire Neighbourhood’ area car parks under current demand levels.

It stated there is an oversupply of car parking which means some car parking sites could be suitable for redevelopment including those within the ‘Spire Neighbourhood’ area including St Mary’s Gate, Spa Lane, Hollis Lane and the former Derbyshire Times site which could be ‘repurposed’ subject to planning.

The study stressed ‘Spire Neighbourhood’ and New Beetwell MSCP are the most suitable sites for redevelopment and it has suggested further investigations into possible residential and commercial development could be considered for the car parking sites.

Council Leader, Cllr Tricia Gilby, told the committee meeting: “I really welcome this study because it looks at our car parks as an asset and I am not using that word in the narrow sense of property but as an asset to the borough.

“They are an asset to the regeneration and economy of our borough in that they present a lot of potential for future development.”