Call for ‘serious investment’ to fix Royal Borough’s car parks

Serious investment is needed to bring the council’s car parks ‘back up to a safe standard’, a resident has told the council.

During a full council meeting on Tuesday, November 18, the Royal Borough faced public questions about the condition of its car parking facilities.

Resident Mark Ashmore specifically referred to the state of the Stafferton Way, Vicus Way and Hines Meadow car park, which are all in Maidenhead Town Centre.

In a written question to Councillor Geoff Hill, cabinet member for highways and transport, Mr Ashmore asked for further information about when cracks on the outside of the council’s Vicus Way car park were discovered and what money is available to fix them.

As part of his written response, Cllr Hill said the cracks were identified in May last year, but that the car park is insured for any damages, for up to £16.5million if it needs to be fully reinstated.

During Tuesday’s meeting at Maidenhead Town Hall, Cllr Hill added: “The cracks, I assure you, are superficial and they’re only cracks in the cladding, so there is no risk to public safety.

“One of our difficulties is that the original contractor is no longer in business; otherwise, we could have completed things a lot more quickly. We’re pursuing that, and we’re pursuing the insurance claim.”

Mr Ashmore raised further concerns about the Stafferton Way multi-storey and Hines Meadow car parks, which he believed faced the same problems.

He said issues such as broken lifts, failing lights, damaged fire doors, antisocial behaviour, rough sleeping and poor security are affecting all three car parks.

“These sites all need serious investment just to bring them back up to a safe standard.

“Many of these issues stem from historical gaps in budgets and how these assets were handed over by the previous administration.

“But why aren’t we pushing the developers and contractors to contribute to the repair cost instead of living residents like me to pay the bills,” Mr Ashmore said.

Cllr Hill said that money is being put towards repairing the car parks and making them safer for residents.

“[In] Stafferton Way, there has been an unfortunate incident with a member of the public, and we’ve had vandalism to the lighting circuits.

“We are putting some money in there; I think it’s about £260,000 to repair that and tidy up the car park and make that a better environment for the public. So, we’ve allocated [a] budget there,” Cllr Hill said.

For the Hines Meadow car park, Cllr Hill added that the council had money to repair the broken lifts, and money will also be allocated to clean it up and refurbish other parts.