Car park saga reaches happy conclusion for town
After months of negotiations and an eleventh hour collapse in the sale back in October, Amble is finally set to have its town centre car park.
Ann Burke, chair of Amble Business Club: “It has been a long frustrating struggle to bring it to this point.”
The sale of land at Turner Street has now been agreed between land owners and Northumberland County Council (NCC), although at the time of writing, The Ambler understands formalities have still to be completed. Planning consent to turn the site into a larger car park, has also been secured.
Land owner Eileen Baron told The Ambler, “I’m just pleased it’s all done and we reached an agreement. Although I do think NCC have been a bit premature in announcing this as no money has been exchanged yet.”
Eileen Baron
The site includes the current Turner Street car park and adjacent land. A new car park will be created, combining the existing and new parking areas, increasing the number of spaces available from 49 to 134.
The old bungalow will be demolished to make way for the additional parking spaces which will include seven disabled spaces and six bays for electric vehicles. Spaces for motorcycles and pushbikes will also be included, and the cycle route will be altered slightly. Drainage, lighting and access to the site will also be improved.
Recreational vehicles will no longer be allowed in the car park and a height restriction bar will be installed.
Turner Street car park
Chair of Amble Business Club Ann Burke, who has campaigned with others for better parking provision in the town said, “I am thrilled for the residents and businesses in Amble that this has eventually come to fruition and hope everything is now in place for it to go ahead. It has been a long frustrating struggle to bring it to this point.”
In 2012, over 3000 people signed a petition in one week, calling on the county council to address the lack of long term parking and the constant threat of parking enforcement wardens on Amble’s Queen Street where parking is restricted to one hour.
A parking group was set up with members of NCC, Amble Business Club, Amble Town Council and Amble Development Trust.
But despite regular meetings, progress was slow. The lack of suitable land in the town centre was cited as being the biggest stumbling block.
Adjacent land will be used to extend the current car park
Cllr Glen Sanderson, council leader and cabinet member responsible for local services and the environment at NCC said: “These are major milestones in providing the community of Amble with important new town centre parking.
“We have been working on this for a number of years now – looking at different sites and options – and I am extremely pleased that we have now reached this stage.
“We will now start to progress the arrangements for site clearance and firm up the schedule and timescales for construction of the new car park.”
Anna Williams
See related articles: https://www.theambler.co.uk/2020/10/14/drama-as-car-park-sale-halted/
https://www.theambler.co.uk/2020/09/29/town-centre-car-park-victory/
https://www.theambler.co.uk/2017/10/06/new-parking-petition-launched/
2 thoughts on "Car park saga reaches happy conclusion for town"
Comments are closed.