A decision is set to be made on a 'key element' of a £21m plan to regenerate a Nottinghamshire town. The vacant Tiles UK warehouse in Derby Road, Stapleford was recently demolished so a new public car park could replace it, and these plans will be decided by councillors at Broxtowe Borough Council's planning committee on March 8.
The Tiles UK building was closed in December 2020 and remained empty until it was knocked down in January 2023, according to Broxtowe Borough Council. The new car park would be owned by the council as part of the Stapleford Town Deal, for which Broxtowe Borough Council has been awarded £21 million of government funding for six regenerative projects.
The proposed car park is a "key element of the Town Deal" according to the council, as it will replace the car parking on Victoria Road. This will be lost when the new £5 million Enterprise Hub is constructed in its place. The hub will include an indoor market space, independent bistro-style food outlets, a vibrant indoor market to the ground floor, as well as flexible office space, - and as such the hub cannot not move forward unless the car park is approved.
The car park would have 46 spaces, including six for blue badge users and four for electric vehicles. Stands with space for eight cycles, CCTV, lighting and payment machines are also proposed together with soft landscaping, including boundary treatments.
The main issues with the planned replacement public car park, according to documents submitted ahead of the planning committee, are its potential impact on highway safety, impact on neighbours and the crime and safety implications for these neighbours and future users. A planning committee report also highlighted the impact on drainage was relevant, as well as on biodiversity.
The report concluded the economic benefits of a smaller replacement public car park outweighed the "limited impacts to residential amenity and safety". If the scheme is approved, these impacts would be mitigated by conditions requiring closure of the Victoria Street car park, the installation of electric vehicle charging points, boundary treatments, low-spill lighting and CCTV before it is used.
A Broxtowe Borough Council planning officer, who recommended councillors on the planning committee approve the plan, said: "The economic benefits of a smaller replacement public car park and net biodiversity and surface water permeability gains from soft landscape outweigh limited impacts to residential amenity and safety, which can be mitigated by conditions that would also ensure the safety of and equality of access for future users."
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