A multi-storey car park in Chatham town centre remains closed for the foreseeable future. Medway Council has temporarily shut Market Hall car park in Cross Street due to a plummeting number of users. The occupancy of the car park drastically declined since the closure of the adjoining Go Outdoors superstore in 2020, leading to antisocial behaviour and vandalism, according to a response to a Freedom of Information request by Future Chatham. In the response, the council says the car park will remain closed until the future of the disused superstore - which is now up for sale - is determined. Data obtained by Future Chatham shows that the council received £553,305.07 in income from the car park between 2010 and September 2021. Within the same period of time, the highest level of income was received in 2010, which came to £97,475. Last year, up until September, the council gained only £1,042.50 in income - its lowest figure since 2010. The income for the car park is calculated as the money generated by penalty charge notices plus pay and display. Meanwhile, the council's expenditure for the car park totalled £212,551.13 between April 2019 and September 2021. Medway Council owns both the freehold and sublease of the car park, which opened in March 1982.
The number of users and income sharply declined following the closure of the Tesco superstore in 2015. Although Go Outdoors took on the large retail unit a year later, it was unable to turn the fortunes around for the car park. The car park - which was primarily used for short-term parking - had capacity for 360 spaces, however only 206 spaces remained open in recent years after the upper floors were fenced off. Comments are closed.
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August 2023
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