City centre car park partially reopens
A multi-storey car park in Gloucester is partially reopening following a nine-month closure due to safety concerns.
The first five floors of the Longsmith Street Car Park is opening making up to 135 spaces available to visitors.
The 300-space site was closed in 2023 after Councillor Alastair Chambers raised concerns about the structure of the car park amid media coverage of the dangers of Raac.
Following Mr Chamber's concerns about crumbling concrete and rusted steel, Gloucester City Council has carried out extensive resurfacing and repairs.
The car park has also been earmarked for redevelopment as part of an ambitious regeneration plan for The Fleece Hotel in Westgate Street, which could see it turned into an enterprise hub for young people.
However, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the car park's closure has been costing the taxpayer tens of thousands of pounds in lost revenue and security costs.
In March, Gloucester City Council's finance leaders said it made business sense to repair and reopen part of the site with a reconfigured layout.
Outgoing deputy leader and performance and resources cabinet member Hannah Norman said at the time some £220,000 had been set aside for the repairs.
“The phasing of works means if a new administration wants to repair the entirety of the car park they will be able to, moving forward,” she said.
“We felt it was prudent to do this initial investment in light of what is going to potentially happen at the Fleece.”
Gloucester City Council has said it will continue to monitor car parking capacity across the city and assess whether further work will take place.
Longsmith Street Car Park is one of 15 council car parks offering up to 2,000 parking spaces in total for visitors.
Later this year the new multi-storey car park at The Forum will open providing a further 400 spaces.
A spokesperson for Gloucester City Council said: “Currently a number of car parks across the city regularly have spaces but we will continue to monitor the demand for car parking.”
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