Parking in Prestwich village is set to become even more scarce as up to a quarter of spaces at the town's main public car park are cordoned off for the next three months. The Fairfax Road car park, previously home to 168 spaces, is already closed as construction begins on a multi-storey, 301-space travel hub, marking the first phase of the town's approved £100M+ regeneration project.
This week brought further bad news for those looking to park in the town centre. Signs have popped up indicating that up to 46 spaces at the Longfield centre car park will be out of commission until the end of July, as they're repurposed to house cabins for contractors working on the regeneration.
The Longfield car park, situated between the Metrolink stop and Prestwich's main shopping area, usually accommodates 160 vehicles. Contractors Vinci Building announced that from May 1 to May 11, two bays will be closed, followed by 46 bays from May 11 to May 15.
After this, 24 bays will remain out of service until July 26. Prestwich has recently seen several high-profile leisure and retail openings, including designer bakery Gails and a new branch of Rudy's Pizza in the former NatWest bank building.
Several independent restaurants, bars and shops have also announced openings and relocations, including beer specialists Keg, Cask and Bottle who are relocating to premises on Bury New Road. Vinci Building, in a statement regarding the necessity for the closures, said: "With work continuing on the travel hub, we will be closing a number of parking bays at the Longfield Centre car park.
"This closure is required to allow the Vinci team to set up their welfare cabins and mobilise their team to carry out construction. "Once the cabins are installed, 22 parking bays will re-open.
"We apologise in advance for the inconvenience this may cause."
Car park users have told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that finding a spot is often challenging. Jane Seddon, 49, said: "It's put a lot more pressure on this car park since Fairfax Road closed and the streets all around are double yellow lined.
"It's a case of hoping for the best when you come shopping. I've had to circle round the car park three or four times and then I hit lucky.
"Losing more spots over the summer will only make that worse. It's getting as if there's nowhere to park."
Jonathan Herman, 76, a Prestwich resident visiting the pharmacy, remarked: "I suppose it's the price of progress.
"One of the attractive things about Prestwich is the parking but its being badly affected. But it's all about the regeneration which will cause a lot of pain in the short to medium term before it's completed."
