Snow Hill Car Park: Expansion: Options Study

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A decision made 30 January 2013:

Decision Reference: MD-T-2013-0011
Decision Summary Title :	Snow Hill Car Park Expansion Options Study		Date of Decision Summary:	23 January 2013
Decision Summary Author:	Director of Transport		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	Snow Hill Car Park Expansion Options Study		Date of Written Report:	23 January 2013
Written Report Author:	Director of Transport		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Snow Hill Car Park Expansion – Options Study
Decision(s): The Minister approved the Snow Hill Car Park Expansion - Options Study and agreed that it should be presented to the States for their information as soon as possible.
Reason(s) for Decision: The Sustainable Transport Policy includes a commitment by Transport and Technical Services to carry out a review of the potential to increase shopper parking at Snow Hill; the Snow Hill Expansion Options Study fulfils that commitment.
Resource Implications: Colour printing £540
Action required: Director of Transport to arrange for the submission of the report to the States.
Signature:		Position:
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Snow Hill Car Park: Expansion: Options Study

TRANSPORT AND TECHNICAL SERVICES

SNOW HILL CAR PARK EXPANSION – OPTIONS STUDY

Purpose of the Report

To approve the ‘Snow Hill Car Park Expansion – Options Study’ report for submission to the States of Jersey for their consideration, as required by the States’ Sustainable Transport Policy.

Background

Snow Hill Car Park provides convenient, short stay parking which is particularly valued by shoppers because of its proximity to the town centre. It is one of the Island’s more popular car parks and is often full with shoppers queuing for spaces to become available. The potential to increase parking capacity at this location has been explored in recent years and a number of engineering and architectural studies have been undertaken resulting in a variety of concept schemes for consideration. None of these however has been developed to business case or implementation stage.

The States of Jersey Sustainable Transport Policy adopted in 2010 includes a commitment to:

“… carry out a review of the proposal for increased shopper parking at Snow Hill in conjunction with Jersey Property Holdings, subject to the availability of funding for feasibility studies, and bring recommendations to the States by the end of 2012”

Transport and Technical Services has therefore commissioned a review of the options previously identified with the aim of preparing a plan of the most viable option for consideration for funding, further development and potential implementation.

Discussion

Snow Hill Car Park currently provides 68 short stay public parking spaces which are very popular with shoppers, because it is the closest surface public car park to the main shopping streets in Town. Increasing the number of spaces for shoppers would provide a welcome stimulus to the town centre retail economy.

Expansion of the car park has been examined on a number of occasions and as part of this study these previous schemes were reviewed. Generally they were found not to meet current expectations in terms of planning, heritage and design standards.

Three parking expansion concepts however were felt to be worthy of further consideration:

An automated car park system, where vehicles are mechanically stacked on ‘shelving’;

A multi-storey car park, keeping below the level of the houses in Regent Road;

A single additional deck linked to Regent Road, without ramps which hence avoids losing spaces from the existing car park.

Each of these have been developed to a basic layout stage and outline costs have been estimated.

These current concepts were considered by key political, stakeholders, relevant authorities and the Chamber of Commerce at a workshop on 22 October 2012. They considered the economics, finance, operation and neighbourhood issues of car park expansion at Snow Hill in general and for each of the concepts specifically. The main points raised at the workshop are recorded in this report (See Appendix A: Snow Hill Expansion – Options Study Report).

At the end of the workshop, a vote was taken which showed unanimous preference for a single deck structure with entry and exit directly from the ramp that feeds Regent Road (see fig.1).

Fig 1. Preferred Option - Single Deck Structure with entry and exit from Regent Road

This scheme offers about 90 additional spaces at a total cost of around £4.8M. Although the stakeholders felt this would not be an overdevelopment of the site and therefore that it was the most appropriate concept, the fact that the capital cost per new space provided is high was a concern.

A more rigorous cost estimating process had confirmed that at current prices the scheme could be expected to cost £4M to construct. Allowing for design and planning fees and inflation, an out-turn expenditure of £4.8M could be expected. The consultation, planning permission and construction period could be expected to take just over two years. The car park extension would take about nine months to construct during which the existing car park would need to be closed for safety reasons.

Whilst there is no doubt that the additional shopper parking at Snow Hill could be provided, the constrained nature of the site means that the cost of developing a new car park at this location would be relatively more expensive than for an equivalent less constrained site. However, Snow Hill car park is the most convenient location for shopper parking, and is a publicly owned site that is immediately available with no land purchase costs.

The Sustainable Transport Policy is supportive of providing more shopper spaces and Snow Hill could potentially supply these close to the heart of St Helier, providing an economic stimulus to town centre trade. The States’ Car Park Trading Account is heavily committed to funding of ongoing repairs and renewals of the existing multi-storey car parks, however, an investment of £2.4M from the fund, (which would equate to the cost of an equivalent standard multi-storey car park), would be justified and affordable. If match funding could be found and justified from elsewhere, additional shopper parking could be provided at this central site in a short timescale.

Conclusion

The Sustainable Transport Policy includes a commitment by Transport and Technical Services to carry out a review of the potential to increase shopper parking at Snow Hill; the Snow Hill Expansion Options Study fulfils that commitment.

Recommendation

The Minister is recommended to approve the submission of the ‘Snow Hill Car Park Expansion – Options Study’ report to the States of Jersey for their consideration.

Reason(s) for Decision

To instruct the Director of Transport to submit the Snow Hill Expansion Option Study report to the States.

Resource Implications

Colour printing £540

Action Required

Director of Transport to arrange for the submission of the report to the States.

Written by:	Director of Transport

Approved by:	Chief Officer, Transport and Technical Services

Endorsed by:	Director of Jersey Property Holdings

Attachments:	Appendix A: Snow Hill Expansion Options Study Report

I:\Minister\2013\Ministerial Decisions 2013\MD 0011 Snow Hill Car Park Expansion Options Study\WR Snow Hill Car Park Expansion Options Study.doc