Gloucester's Longsmith Street Car Park closed for safety reasons

The car park was closed on Friday

A multi-storey car park in Gloucester has been closed until further notice due to safety reasons.

Councillor Alastair Chambers said he raised concerns over the condition of Longsmith Street car park after recent media coverage of the dangers of Raac.

He said he had seen crumbling concrete and rusted steel on a recent visit and claimed a structural engineer had told him it was dangerous.

Gloucester City Council has apologised for the inconvenience.

The car park was closed on Friday, a day after civic chiefs debated a motion without notice which called for regular fire, asbestos, electrical and building control inspections of property owned by the authority.

Gloucester City Council has apologised for the inconvenience

Mr Chambers told the meeting he had been to take a closer look at the 300-space car park.

"I noted large sections of reinforced concrete had fallen away and dropped off into the public footpath below," he said.

"Broken electric cables swung loose in the wind. Metal security rails were loose.

"Pieces of concrete would fall freely from only a slight touch. A very slight touch of the finger would turn this steel bar to dust," he added.

Councillor Alistair Chambers raised concerns about the condition of the car park

Mr Chambers said he contacted the Health and Safety Executive, Gloucestershire Fire & Rescue Service and a structural engineer.

He told the meeting a structural engineer had looked at the car park and said it was dangerous, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

But council leader Richard Cook said the building had not been declared unsafe, although the council was advised to restrict the maximum load until a full survey was done.

"We had a structural engineer go in there. That was as a result of something which had been planned for several months, it just happened to be on Friday.

"He said it needs to have a full structural survey to be sure and until then, maximum load would be every other space. Well, of course, you can't police every other space.

"So we just thought out of an abundance of caution we will close it."

The council said it regularly inspected its premises

A council spokesperson said a refurbishment of the car park had started in March and a pre-planned inspection of the car park by a surveyor had taken place on Thursday.

"The council takes the safety of its buildings very seriously and regularly monitors and inspects it's premises to ensure this," a council spokesperson added.

The council said season ticket holders of Longsmith Street car park would be able to use Westgate Street, Hare Lane North and Station Road car parks.