Hospital car park plan gets the go-ahead

PLANNING bosses have given the go-ahead for a temporary car park for hospital staff at Warrington – despite objections from two councillors.
The car park on a former garage site off Wellfield Street will accommodate 58 vehicles and is about 300 metres from the entrance to Warrington Hospital.
Objections were lodged by local councillors Jeff Richards and Steve Parish – and members of the borough’s development management committee to visited the site before approving the scheme
A similar scheme for 63 vehicles are refused last year.
The site is in a predominantly residential area and will be used Monday-Friday only.
Cllr Richards said the hospital had failed to tackle its parking issues for many years.
When a multi-storey car park was built on the hospital site some years ago it was designed to it could be extended upwards.
Cllr Parish said there was little difference between the proposals and a plan refused last year.
He was worried about evenings when employees leaving the hospital would cause traffic problems.
Planning officers said the hospital had produced a travel plan which addressed the issues which led to last year’s application being refused.
Warrington Hospital currently had 1,510 parking space, plus an off-site staff car park with 75 spaces.
It received many complaints from patients unable to find parking spaces – and surveys had shown up to 200 cars parked in non-defined parking spaces on the busiest clinic days.