1.                        PURPOSE OF REPORT AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.1      The Council owns land on Brunswick Street that is currently used as a municipal car park. The car park no longer achieves a satisfactory level of income from car park fees and better use of part of the land could be made for housing development.

1.2      In order for the Council to make better use of the land it needs to be declared surplus to operational requirements. A recommendation to dispose can then be made to the Policy and Resources Committee, who will make the final decision.

2.                        INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

2.1      The Brunswick Street site is situated on the south side of Brunswick Street, the north side of George Street and the west side of Upper Stone Street (A229), just south of Maidstone town centre. This part of Upper Stone Street forms a busy part of the one-way traffic system with mostly commercial properties occupying neighbouring positions. However, Brunswick Street and George Street are quitter side roads with recent residential led schemes having taken place.

2.2      A review of current usage of the site as a car park demonstrates that it is under utilised in this role. The gross income generated being during 2014/15 was in the region of £36,000, which demonstrates less than 50% occupancy rates even at peak times. The car park is not ideally situated to serve the Town Centre area and as a result is mainly used by local residents or passing trade for nearby shops. It will however be prudent to protect and re-provide 50% of this capacity in any development to meet these needs.

2.3      Below is a table demonstrating income from similar long-stay car parks owned by the Council:

2.4      Income up to the period ending August 2015 of 2015/16 has remained consistent with the previous year, achieving on average £528.00 per bay and continues below what would be reasonably expected from this type of car park.   The proposal is therefore to declare the whole site as surplus but to retain sufficient car park space on any future development to provide for 33 spaces which represents 50% of the current 66 spaces. This will provide sufficient car parking space to serve the local businesses and other needs.

2.5      Once the car park has been declared surplus an amendment will be required to the current Traffic Regulation Order in order to take account of the proposed change to the outlay of the new parking area. Usage of the new car park and nearby Town Centre car parks will be monitored to enable your officers to respond to any trend that indicates an unexpected increase in demand.

2.6      The Council is also faced with a high demand for affordable housing and demand generally for good quality rented accommodation persists that could be made through the direct intervention of the Council into the housing market. The site declared surplus provides the opportunity to provide new housing in a Town Centre location.

3.                        AVAILABLE OPTIONS

3.1      The Committee can decide to retain the car park in its current scale and use.

3.2      The Committee declares the car park surplus to requirement to facilitate the release of the land for an alternative use, which will include space to retain 33 car park bays.

4.         PREFERRED OPTION AND REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

4.1      It is recommended that the Committee declare the Brunswick Street car park in its current form surplus to operational requirements, as the land could be put to a more effective use. Redeveloping the land for housing would enable a rental yield to be earned from the site, and retaining 33 bays on the same development would enable an income similar to that being currently received to be achieved in future.

5.        CONSULTATION RESULTS AND PREVIOUS COMMITTEE FEEDBACK

5.1      If the Committee agrees to make the current car park surplus a future recommendation to amend the current Traffic Regulation Order to take account of the change would require a statutory period of consultation before the amendment could take place.

6.        NEXT STEPS: COMMUNICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION

6.1      The Council is committed to identifying and delivering ways of securing its financial future through a policy of commercialisation. The opportunity to maximise the potential of the land at Brunswick Street would be subject to the agreement of the Communities, Housing & Environment Committee. The Communities, Housing & Environment Committee will assess the financial viability of a proposed new housing development, which will retain 33 parking bays. Authority has previously been obtained to enable sufficient borrowing to enable the redevelopment of the site; therefore a decision by the Policy & Resources Committee is not required.

7.        CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS

8.         REPORT APPENDICES

9.         BACKGROUND PAPERS

None

Appendix A

Map of Brunswick Street Car Park