Amoy Street Car Park North and South car parks

Of the car parks within Bedford Place, there are currently only immediate plans to close the Amoy Street North and South car parks.

The determination of which car parks to retain and which to dispose of within in any given location is based on a number of criteria. These are the:

• Usage data
• Potential for displacement to other car parks
• Commercial impact of selling versus retaining
• Development potential of the land
• Current marketability of the site

All criteria are assessed before a decision is proposed. Within the Bedford Place area, Amoy Street met and scored higher against the criteria than other viable sites. 

An impact assessment has been carried in Bedford Place that captures usage in terms of customers against the remaining available capacity across each area’s car parks if any given car park is disposed of. Usage data for car parks comes via ticket sales at car parks (both machine and pay by phone). Where ticket sales are not available for a car park, a manual count of vehicles is carried out for one day. 

The data gives the potential car park numbers at a moment in time based on the time of sale and length of time purchased, and is compared to the total available car parking capacity for an area to see if there is an oversupply of car parking spaces. Using ticket sale data in this way is considered to represent a worse case peak occupancy scenario as some people may leave before their ticket expires. 

The removal of Amoy Street reduces parking spaces in the area by 54, which equates to 5% of the current total number. Available capacity at peak time was calculated at 25%.

(Note from KP: web team, I will be providing a link to the TRO once it’s live in May)

The closure of a car park formally begins with the publication of a statutory consultation process (Car Park Revocation Order). During the period the order is issued, those who wish to do so will have the opportunity to outline any concerns or objections for consideration.

The sale of any car parks will be subject to planning so there will be a delay between the decision to close the car park and its actual closure in accordance with planning permission timelines. It will remain in use prior to development commencing. It is anticipated that the full process from statutory consultation through to closure will be around 9-12 months.

There will be remaining car parks in the Bedford Place area for long stay parking, including: 

There are also 78 short stay spaces at Wilton Avenue, SO15 2DS, and other on street parking spaces available.

Within all locations, car parks that have been identified as strategically important will be retained. All other car parks have been assessed against the disposal criteria. Further disposals will be progressed based on alignment to the criteria whilst seeking to ensure that no one area is unduly affected. Though it is likely that this will mean disposals in each area are kept to a minimum, there is still the possibility that locations could be revisited at a later date but the disposal assessment criteria would still need to be met. 

Season pass availability will continue to be updated in line with any decisions to close specific car parks. As noted in the FAQ above relating to disposal timeframes, the time between the decision to sell and the formal closure of the car park will include a period of marketing and a planning application within which time a season pass is likely to elapse. However, if a season pass for a car park that is closing during the period covered has been purchased, it will be accepted at other council-controlled off-street car parks.