£1m car park for Regional Pool users proposed after 'pause' in project while it wasn't thought to be needed
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Peterborough City Council (PCC) has resumed efforts to build a temporary car park for Regional Pool users after a “pause” of several months while it wasn't believed to be needed.
Council officers have prepared a report recommending that Cabinet Member Steve Allen (Conservatives) approves costs for the site - which would replace the car park lost to Peterborough’s new university - “up to a total value of £1,008,000”.
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Hide AdThe councillor is also recommended to approve a building contract with Cambridge-based company Coulson & Sons for the project worth £801,000.
A decision is due by 3 April, but could come sooner as PCC has invoked urgency procedures waiving the requirement for a 28-day pause before a Cabinet Member's pronouncement.
This is because the car park has already closed while pre-construction for an ARU Peterborough laboratory and teaching block is undertaken.
'Reduction in sales' at Regional Pool as 'direct result' of lost parking
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Hide AdAdding to the urgency are reports from the Regional Pool that it's experiencing "reductions in sales as a direct consequence of the lack of nearby parking” which could harm its "viability".
Currently, pool users are being offered three-hour permits to park for free in the nearby Bishop’s Road car park, Riverside car park or the Car Haven.
There are also four disabled bays outside the Regional Pool building and a few extra spaces at the coach drop off point.
But the car parks are “often full to capacity” while extra spaces on site “will not meet the current demand levels”, PCC officers say.
Car park not thought to be 'required'
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Hide AdAs such, the temporary car park to the east of the Regional Pool site is back on the table after being “paused” for a period between summer last year and the beginning of this year “due to an expectation that additional parking may not be required”.
That position “has changed somewhat over recent weeks” as “post-Covid recovery and a strong city centre offer” are attracting so many cars to the centre, officers say.
The new car park would have 128 spaces as well as linked footpaths, lighting improvements and other service installations.
Around half of its £1m cost will be funded by a grant already received by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA), with the other half coming from PCC.
In the long-term, PCC leader Wayne Fitzgerald (Conservatives) says that the plan is to knock the Council-run pool down and build a new one.
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