Simon Crowcroft has criticised the government for not relocating the 190 Esplanade car park spaces lost to make way for the new office block at the International Finance Centre.
Mr Crowcroft said that while he supported the construction of the third IFC building, which is due to begin this month, he believed that a ‘suitable alternative’ should have been proposed. He has called on the government to introduce a parking strategy to tackle the problem.
He said: ‘The loss of car park spaces raises the wider problem of the difficulties of parking when shopping in town. The Esplanade car park was a short-stay car park and was frequently used by those coming to shop in town and now those cars will have to find elsewhere to park.’
Last month, Infrastructure Minister Kevin Lewis said that the nearby Sand Street car park had the spare capacity to accommodate those looking to park in town.
Mr Crowcroft said: ‘The problem with Sand Street is that it is also very busy and does not always have space. It has a very rigid one-way system which makes it difficult for people to park and can lead to long queues throughout the car park.’
He added that he would particularly like to see more shopper parking introduced in the north of town.
He said: ‘Currently those travelling into St Helier from St John and Trinity have very limited options on parking until they get to Minden Place car park, which is full the majority of the time anyway. More short-stay shopper parking needs to be introduced to make town more accessible.’
He added: ‘I would also like to see more parking made available to parish residents as many of those who live in town do not necessarily have on-site parking available to them at their homes.’
Mr Crowcroft said that while he had always encouraged people to travel by sustainable methods of transport, life was ‘too complex’ and that parking for cars would always be a requirement.
He said: ‘People often bring their kids to town or need to carry lots of goods and so in those cases travelling by car is necessary. If we don’t provide people with easily accessible parking, they could be discouraged from coming into town and this could have a negative impact on businesses who operate in town.’
