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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND TECHNICAL SERVICES BY DEPUTY J.M. MAÇON OF ST. SAVIOUR
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 6th OCTOBER 2009
Question
How many commuter car parking spaces are currently available at the Esplanade and Gas Place car parks?
How many new town car parking spaces will be required by the new office blocks, retail outlets and living accommodation (including the St Saviour's Road flats)?
What will be the net number of parking spaces available for commuters and what provision, if any, is being made by Transport and Technical Services to cover the shortfall?
Answer
There are 533 (525 commuter plus 8 disabled) parking spaces at the Esplanade car park and 389 (386 commuter plus 3 disabled) at Gas Place public car park.
There are many developments continually proposed, underway or coming to completion in St Helier which alter the need and number of parking spaces and it is not therefore possible to give a precise answer. The total stock of parking is the most important issue. There are currently about 4000 public off street spaces (3200 commuter and 850 short stay) and about 7000 private non residential spaces in the town area. Pier Road and Sand Street car parks are rarely full so there is some spare capacity, both for commuters and shoppers.
The proposals for the Esplanade Square would provide approximately 900 new spaces in addition to replacing those already there. The new retail development at Jubilee Wharf has no allocated parking spaces but shoppers can use Sand Street car park, and on Saturdays the Esplanade car park has more shoppers' spaces due to the lack of commuters.
A private multi storey car park is being constructed in Kensington Place to provide 240 spaces. Proposals for the Town park have not been finalised, but have been based around the assumption that most commuter and all residents parking from Gas Place would need to be replaced either under the new park or elsewhere in that part of the town. The 250 private spaces on the Talman site would not be replaced.
The ratio of parking spaces required by the Planning Department for both residential and office developments has been reduced in recent years. The 69 flats and 2 town houses on St Saviour's Road at the former Rex Hotel has a particularly low ratio with only 31 spaces. This is consistent with the States Strategic Plan, which proposes to reduce traffic. In accordance with the Strategic Plan I will be bringing a Sustainable Transport Policy to the House in due course, which will endeavour to reduce car use and this can be expected to reduce the demand for parking in the town area. I think it important however that the policy recognises that private cars are likely to remain a principal means of transport in our island and that the numbers of parking spaces needs to be carefully monitored so that the economy is able to thrive, whilst the principles of the strategic plan with regard to reducing traffic are respected.