Land between West Street, Bath Street, Royal Pier Road and Queen ...

Highways and Car ParkingCar ParkingA significant proportion of the application site comprises existing surface car parks andsubsequently an inevitable consequence of redevelopment will be the partial/complete loss ofthese existing facilities. At present the existing car parks provide a total of 654 short-stay publiccar parking spaces across the following car parks:• West Street - 76 spaces• Market Square - 121 spaces• Horn Yard - 85 spaces• St Georges Centre - 372 spacesThe proposed development will completely redevelop the West Street, Market Square and HornYard car parks, but will only result in the loss of the open parking element of the St George’s carpark (49 spaces) – the result being a loss of 331 existing short-stay public car parking spaces.However, the parking needs of the new development will be provided on site within the twoquarters and will total 650 spaces, which is a quantum accepted by KCC Highways followingdetailed pre-application discussions and having regard to the sustainable and well-connected towncentre location. This provision includes 264 public spaces, split roughly equally across the twoquarters, and 386 private allocated spaces to provide one space for each residential unit and onefor each hotel room.This loss of existing public car parking has been highlighted as one of the principal concerns fromlocal residents and some local businesses. However, with the retention of the existing St George’smulti-storey car park (323 spaces), upon completion there will remain a total of some 587 publiccar parking spaces available for use by shoppers, workers and visitors across both quarters – anet loss ‘on the ground’ of 68 public spaces, which may be justified as representing little over 10%of the existing public parking. It should be noted however that this post-development public carparking will be subject to the additional demands of the new uses, but the point should also bemade that it will be available for use by all existing users and, following updating of the existingreal-time car parking signage system around the Town to be funded by the developer, it is onlywhen these spaces are fully occupied that users will have to park elsewhere.As a late change to the scheme, the applicant has included the provision of an additional 5no.open car parking spaces on the land to the immediate south of the Gravesend Medical Centre,and confirmed that they will provided and made available solely for use in connection with thatfacility. This responds to concerns expressed by the Medical Centre regarding the loss of existingstaff and disabled patient car parking and the importance that they are re-provided in appropriatelocations.Whilst the applicant identifies surplus provision in existing public car parks at Lord Street andParrock Street to offset the overall loss of existing public parking spaces, the Council has takenthe view that it is not acceptable to wholly rely on existing provision which may or may not beretained for such purposes in the long term. In forming this stance regard has been taken to thefact that the provision at Lord Street is only temporary and cannot currently be relied upon in thelong term and furthermore that a combination of development pressures has the potential to addfurther strain to existing provisions, including potential loss of existing spaces through schemessuch as the Rathmore Road link. In addition, due to their peripheral location, existing car parkssuch as the Gurdwara and Milton Place may not be regarded as appropriate car parks in which toprovide for short-stay Town Centre car parking.The principle has therefore been agreed between the applicant and the Council that a financialcontribution will be paid to the Council to enable the longer term re-provision of public parking