Amoy Street Car Park North and South car parks

Of the car parks within Bedford Place, currently there are only immediate proposals to close the Amoy Street, both North and South sections. Note this is not the Wilton Avenue (short stay) car park, which will be retained.

The determination of which car parks to retain and which to dispose of within in any given location is based on a number of criteria. The usage data, the potential for displacement to other car parks, the commercial impact of selling versus retaining, the development potential of the land and the current marketability of the site are all assessed before a decision is proposed. Within the Bedford Place area, Amoy Street North and South Car Parks met and scored higher against the criteria than other viable sites.

An impact assessment has been carried in Bedford Place that captures usage in terms of customers against the remaining available capacity across each area’s car parks if any given car park is disposed of. Usage data for car parks comes via ticket sales at car parks (both machine and pay by phone). Where ticket sales are not available for a car park, a manual count of vehicles is carried out for one day.

The data gives the potential car park numbers at a moment in time based on the time of sale and length of time purchased and is compared to the total available car parking capacity for an area to see if there is an oversupply of car parking spaces. Using ticket sale data in this way is considered to represent a worse case peak occupancy scenario as some people may leave before their ticket expires.

The table below shows the highest usage figure recorded for each car park at 11am (deemed as peak time of day) over the last 12 months.

The data above does not include season ticket data and as such we are assuming 10% of the available capacity above would be utilised by season ticket holders. When this is applied and the Amoy Street North and South data is discounted it equates to 198 available spaces.

The removal of Amoy Street North and South Car Parks reduces parking spaces in the area by 54, which equates to 5% of the current total number for Bedford Place. The available capacity, even if all remaining car parks were to record their peak values from the last 12 months and season ticket assumptions are applied would be 19%.

The proposed closure of a car park formally begins with the publication of a statutory consultation process (Car Park Revocation Order). During the period the order is issued those who wish to do so will have the opportunity to outline any concerns or objections for consideration. All submissions will be reviewed, considered and responded to accordingly, prior to any final decision being taken and published.

The sale of any car parks will be subject to planning so there will be a delay between the decision to close the car park and its actual closure in accordance with planning permission timelines. It will remain in use prior to development commencing. It is anticipated that the full process from statutory consultation through to closure will be around 9-12 months.

There will be remaining car parks in the Bedford Place area for long stay parking, including: 

There are also 78 short stay spaces at Wilton Avenue, SO15 2DS, and other on street parking spaces available.

Within all locations, car parks that have been identified as strategically important will be retained. All other car parks have been assessed against the disposal criteria. Further disposals will be progressed based on alignment to the criteria whilst seeking to ensure that no one area is unduly affected. Though it is likely that this will mean disposals in each area are kept to a minimum, there is still the possibility that locations could be revisited at a later date but the disposal assessment criteria would still need to be met. 

The locations are shown below, and further details about our car parks can be found here. 

Season pass availability will continue to be updated in line with any decisions to close specific car parks. As noted in the FAQ above relating to disposal timeframes, the time between the decision to sell and the formal closure of the car park will include a period of marketing and a planning application within which time a season pass is likely to elapse. However, if a season pass for a car park that is closing during the period covered has been purchased, it will be accepted at other council-controlled off-street car parks.

Further details about all of our car parks can be found here.

An Equality and Safety Impact Assessment (ESIA) has been completed. The ESIA considered the impact on various community groups and protected characteristics, and has made recommendations for mitigations to reduce the impact. These include amongst other activities; provision of information on alternative parking options, reviewing walking routes between the closing car park and alternative options to see if improvements can be made and that they remain safe at all times of day and continuing to monitor car park usage and the impact on traffic from displaced journeys. As part of the disposal process, if the disposal is approved the mitigations will be actioned.

Amoy Street North and South were selected for closure in part for their development potential. No planning permission has been agreed yet on what the site would change to, but it will not be retained as a car park for the public once closed.

Historically, the area was used for housing as shown in this historical map from 1933-1946:

The preferred option for the site would be housing but this cannot be predetermined as any development will require planning permission for a change of use. As with the other assets within the wider Asset Development and Disposal programme the marketing of the site would be undertaken by our strategic partner, Savills.