Planning application for car park ‘deck’ to be heard

Patients, visitors and staff all know how difficult parking can be at St. Peter's Hospital at peak times. Over the past few years Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospitals NHS Trust has tried many ways to help alleviate some of the pressures.

Restricted by the number of parking spaces that are permitted on the site by planning regulations, the Trust has worked hard to promote schemes such as Surrey Car Share and cycling to work.   There has been investment in new bicycle shelters, and the existing car parks have been re-designated to help clear up confusion between staff and public parking areas.   Bus routes have been improved, and the ‘Hospital Hopper’ inter-site bus service has had extra trips timetabled to allow staff and patients to travel between the two hospitals more conveniently.

More recently the Trust has implemented a plan for staff at St. Peter’s to park in two nearby car-parks.   The Trust now provides a shuttle service from Homewood park car-park which is adjacent to the St. Peter’s Hospital site.    As an alternative, staff are encouraged to park at Murray Road car-park in Ottershaw, opposite the Otter public house, and to walk to and from (approx 10-15mins) the hospital.    Both schemes have both had some success.

Rex Cassidy, Facilities General Manager for Ashford and St. Peter’s comments:  “Before putting in planning permission for additional spaces we have had to demonstrate that we have tried to reduce demand for car parking.   Having implemented these schemes it is clear that the pressures on the car-parks at the hospital have not lifted to a satisfactory level.   If approved the new car park deck will provide around 150 additional spaces.”

The plans, if approved, will allow the Trust to put a ‘deck’ over car park one outside the main entrance.    The work to erect the ‘deck’ would take place later in 2007 but would only take a couple of months to complete.   The deck would not be visible from the main road as it is screened by trees.

Planning permission is also being sought to introduce barrier control ticketing, which would have a two fold effect.  Patients and visitors would pay to leave the car park rather than the current ‘pay and display’ system.   This would save patients and visitors the worry about whether their ticket had expired and mean that those entitled to ‘season’ tickets would not have to claim refunds.     Barrier controls will also be installed at staff car parks, enabling them to be used solely for staff. Car park one, outside the Main Entrance, is for patients and visitors only and staff are not permitted to park there.

Facilities General Manager Rex Cassidy continued: “We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone, who has experienced the parking at St. Peter’s, for their understanding in what has been a long and exhaustive journey to this planning application. We are confident that a solution is within our grasp.   We are also looking at other ways to improve the parking situation and hope to make an announcement in the near future on what else we can do to ease the problems.”