Temporary car park to address Christmas congestion

Plans have been submitted for an overflow car park at York Designer Outlet

Plans have been submitted for an overflow car park at a shopping centre to tackle congestion in the run up to Christmas.

The 340-space car park at the York Designer Outlet would be used by staff during November and December.

Plans for additional parking were withdrawn last year after council planning officers recommended refusal due to concerns over traffic and the impact on green belt land.

The latest application said traffic would be largely unaffected because the car park would be used by those who would travel to the Outlet regardless.

Visitor numbers at the shopping centre swell in the build-up to Christmas

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the temporary car park would be set up on land south of the shopping centre and its Park and Ride service, off St Nicholas Avenue.

The shopping centre currently has 2,700 parking spaces, with up to 1,000 of those used by the Park and Ride shuttle to the city centre.

About 1,600 staff work at the Outlet’s 115 units, with up to 700 of them on site at any one time during a typical day.

Between 200 and 500 parking spaces are usually occupied by Park and Ride users, according to the application.

During the busy Christmas period, the number of staff on site can swell to to 900, while customer numbers are also said to rise significantly.

Up to 1,000 bus tickets are sold for the Park and Ride service on the busiest days, compared with the usual daily average of about 200.

The application said the result was long queues for cars and buses leaving the Outlet and long waits for bus passengers at the Park and Ride.

“The visitor experience is downgraded, people experience long delays to their visit and tempers become frayed, all to the detriment of the reputation of York’s visitor economy," said a supporting statement.

According to the plans, an overflow car park is the best way to tackle the problem.

Previous plans for a 200-space car park were withdrawn in December.

At the time, planning officers cited concerns over the car park being located on green belt land and the effect of more traffic on nearby roads.

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