Two hundred of Cheshire East Council’s 3,200 staff have an access card to park for FREE in the multi-storey car park in Crewe, writes Belinda Ryan.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked the council about staff parking after a Crewe businessman said he had witnessed cars leaving at the same time on numerous days and driving straight through on number plate recognition.
“I assume the vast majority of these are Cheshire East employees,” he said.
Referring to the low number of cars which use the 390-space car park, he added: “Given the fact that only a few cars need to use the next level up and potentially many of these are Cheshire East staff or visitors, what prospect is there of this ever being anything more that an over large Cheshire East car park?
“Nurses at hospitals have to pay to park at their place of work.”
It emerged earlier this year that the £11 million car park made a loss of nearly £70,000 in its first six months of operation.
Questions have been asked by the public about whether council staff pay to park there, especially after the introduction of parking charges a few months ago in previously “free” towns and the hike in prices next week, together with the introduction of evening and Sunday charging.
Cllr Mark Goldsmith (Wilmslow, Ind) chair of the highways and transport committee, said: “Currently 200 eligible staff have an access card for parking in Crewe’s multi-storey car park.
“The Crewe bus station and multi-storey car park was built to encourage the regeneration of the town centre.
“I am therefore pleased to see it is starting to have a positive effect with several planning applications recently lodged for new retail and residential developments nearby.”
He added: “Cheshire East Council employs around 3,200 staff, and our staff parking permit scheme has strict criteria, so a large majority don’t have a pass.
“Eligible staff include social workers, ICT and green spaces staff. As an example, these critical staff need to have access to car parks to drop off and pick up case work documents for use in court.
“Car parking and access is under constant review; there are strict terms of use that include using the permit only on working days and it can be withdrawn if it’s misused.
“Both quarterly and annual contract permits are available to staff and the public with discounted costs compared with a daily parking charge.
“Our aim is that the current arrangement provides a fair and robust permit scheme that is financially sustainable and ensures business continuity.”
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