Emotions run high at public meeting to discuss Lancaster city centre parking fears

Since Lancaster City Council approved a masterplan for the Canal Quarter earlier this year, many businesses and residents have raised concerns about the apparent huge reduction in city centre car parking which will result from the plan.

No parking strategy has yet been published, though Lancaster City Council have confirmed they are working on finalising one by January 2024.

Lancaster BID (Business Improvement District) worked with the Grand Theatre to organise the meeting for businesses to hear more details about the city council proposals, as well as allow them to put questions directly to the city councillors who make the decisions.

This event gave the opportunity for people to hear the facts about the current proposals from councillors as well as hear some of the concerns which have been raised by local businesses and residents.

It was chaired by ex-BBC reporter Dave Guest, with a panel made up of city council cabinet members Jean Parr, Gina Dowding and Nick Wilkinson, alongside Phil Simpson from Lancaster Brewery, Jo & Cass salon boss Graham Cass and Grand Theatre trustees chairman Mark Hutton.

With more than 150 in attendance, the meeting became fairly heated at times as views were expressed over the plans, which could see 126 parking spaces lost to housing in Nelson Street as well as plans for development on the upper and lower St Leonard’s Gate and Edward Street car parks.

Graham Cass said: "Whilst I look forward to the development of Lancaster city centre, in particular the canal corridor, this cannot be at the expense of the city centre!

“The reason city centres have vacant shops and out of town retail centres like Trafford Centre do not is free parking and ease of parking!

“To remove 700 spaces will be the death of the high street!

“Already at peak times people can’t park. We need to make shopping in Lancaster a nice experience – this means a good bus service, good cycle ways, an affordable and reliable train service and reasonable if not free parking.

"Don't kill the high street by shutting down the car parks."

Mark Hutton added: "If they remove all parking on St Leonard's Gate, we will be left with nothing as far as parking is concerned."

Coun Parr – who said she understood the situation having worked in retail for 30 years - responded: "We will do more - we want a parking strategy to work."

Coun Wilkinson, who also has a city centre business involving student lets, said: "We're listening to you.”

After the meeting, Scale Hall city councillor Jean Parr said: “Residents feel uninformed and ignored, despite council efforts with press releases, posts on the website, info sessions in libraries, public consultations etc.

“No council or councillor can please everyone, that’s an impossibility.”

Coun Parr holds residents’ surgeries twice a month at Lancaster library on the second Saturday of the month at 11am as a county councillor and on the third Saturday of the month with ward colleagues from 11am until 1pm at Salt Ayre Leisure Centre.

In between, you can write to her at the town hall or email [email protected].

BID manager Tony Johnson said: “Lancaster BID was delighted that the meeting ended with a commitment from the councillors present to ensure higher levels of engagement and consultation with the business community moving forward and of the need to review the full range of data available and potentially review plans as the Canal Quarter development progresses.”

A Lancaster BID spokesman added thanks to the councillors and Dave Guest for attending the event.

“Although the audience recognised the need for housing and welcomed the prospect of development within the Canal Quarter, it was felt that the key issue of parking had so far been overlooked,” they added.

"Particular concerns were raised around the ability to meet parking demand at peak times and about the lack of any viable alternative transport into the evenings when performances at key entertainment venues including The Grand and The Dukes come to an end.”

After the event, Couns Nick Wilkinson, Jean Parr and Gina Dowding released a joint statement.

“At this early stage in planning for the development of Canal Quarter we were pleased as councillors to be able to hear the views from worried residents and the business and art sectors directly and get a better understanding of their concerns about the loss of parking on Nelson Street and St Leonards Gate as the plans for the Canal Quarter are gradually built out,” they said.

"Councillors accept that more must be done to improve communication with residents and businesses.

“We all seemed to be agreed that development on the Canal Quarter is both needed and will add benefits to the city centre, and we are certainly all agreed that we want a thriving city centre that services both our residents and visitors.

“The best outcomes only ever come from a thorough understanding of the issues. As was well set out on Monday night, transport has always been a complex challenge and clearly parking is an important part of that. Based on the feedback from concerned businesses and residents we’d welcome the opportunity to continue discussion to help our officers with detailed planning of the CQ scheme.

“To get the best outcome for our city and the area as a whole the council is committed to working with all of our partners, including Lancaster BID and Lancashire County Council, to look at creative ways of ensuring visitors are welcomed into the city, however they travel.

“The council is meeting with members of the BID next week with a view to setting up a working group to look at details of a parking strategy as part of a wider travel strategy together with Lancashire County Council.”

A Lancaster and Morecambe Chamber of Commerce (LMCoC) spokeman said: “The Canal Quarter plan is a residential led one, and will provide much needed housing in the city, especially social housing.

“Whilst we understand the difficulties faced by the council to ‘juggle’ and meet all priorities, our membership are concerned about the impact the loss of parking spaces will have on businesses in the town centre.

“We have spoken to the councillors leading on the project and will continue to do so throughout the various stages of public consultation, in order that our membership, other business and charities are listened to throughout this process.

“We thank Lancaster BID and Lancaster City Council for the event, and for the opportunity to raise concerns, and hope that this continues whilst the city council finalise their plans.

"LMCoC will be consulting with our membership on this issue shortly, if you have any immediate comments please email us at [email protected]”