Cheshire East Council has given notice on their lease of a car park in Alderley Edge because it has been running at a loss.
Under the requirements of their 15-year lease, the Council was required to give three months written notice on their lease of The Parade car park, which they did on January 20th.
The lease is with Aberdeen Asset Management, who are the landlords agent, and Cheshire East has leased the car park from them since April 2012, prior to that they leased the car park from the previous owners Bluemantle.
Speaking about the reasons for relinquishing the lease, a spokesperson from Cheshire East Council said "Cheshire East Council is committed to providing the most cost-effective services for local residents and businesses. There are known parking issues in Alderley Edge (as there are in other towns) which are perhaps best addressed within discussions around a parking strategy and pricing policy. Cheshire East Council remains committed to producing a parking strategy by July 2015.
"The cost of running the car park, including the lease, outweighs the income generated from it and, with increasing lease costs year on year, it would be run at a loss. The philosophy is that car parks maintain themselves and the Council has an ambition to provide reasonably-priced parking that is cost-neutral to the authority."
The spokesperson continued "Numerous complaints have been received about the car park's layout – which was agreed with the previous landlords – regarding customer car crashes and issues regarding Waitrose delivery vehicles.
"Under the current lease agreement, specified numbers of spaces have to be in place and any alteration to this number would require further costs involving legal and relaying the car park."
According to the data available (which is not complete as "there have been intermittent telemetry issues") the income generated from people purchasing pay and display tickets at The Parade car park was £37,988.90 for 2014 and £28,565.90 in 2013.
In addition, £7,738.80 was raised from penalty charge notices issued in The Parade car park in 2014 and for 2013 the figure is £14,915.
The Council says it will positively engage with whoever takes on the lease to discuss whether they wish to use the local authority for enforcement.
I have contacted Aberdeen Asset Management to enquire whether they have a new tenant for the car park and Waitrose to enquire whether they will be taking on the lease, I am waiting for a response.
Updated: 2pm Wednesday 28th January
A spokesperson from Aberdeen Asset Management confirmed "At present we're speaking to various parties about the car park."
A spokesperson for Waitrose commented "It isn't our land so we plan to meet with the owners of the car to discuss their management plans going forward."
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
What? Paint more yellow lines and put up charges where we can get away with it?
Keep the parking in front of the store as it is for cars, with the current normal size bays. Designate the section of the car park at the side a premium section, with larger bays, for 'larger vehicles' and charge double the base rate for this section. Very few bays need be lost to do this.
The segregation would help traffic flow at the entrance, and the premium tickets would be seen as a status symbol so would sell well in Alderley Edge...
I like your thinking! Let's take it a stage further; low cost transport from the proposed car park at Heyes Lane into Waitrose. How? Palanquin? Rickshaw?