Council bosses at Newcastle Borough Council say they are not going to make the same mistakes at Stoke-on-Trent as the new Castle car park has opened.

Last year it was revealed that Smithfield multi-storey car park in Hanley made a loss of over £15,000.

Bosses have attempted to reassure councillors at Newcastle Borough that they are not expecting the same outcome. The new 468-space Castle car park on the Rycroft site which cost £11 million opened today and has replaced the Midway multi-storey, which is set to be converted into flats. 

New documents presented to the finance assets and performance scrutiny committee estimates that the new car park is expected to generate £91,000 in revenue. This document explained that the revenue is expected to come from increased demand, pricing and permits.

However councillors on the committee asked where the increased demand was expected to come from. Cabinet Member for Finance, Town Centres and Growth, Councillor Stephen Sweeney said that the car park offer to shoppers will be much better than it currently is.

Smithfield multi-storey car park in Hanley made a loss of over £15,000 last year (LDRS).

A council officer said that the £91,000 was a 'conservative estimate' and added: "We think that having a safe car park will hopefully bring more people into the town centre and then there's going to be lots more development around that area. So there should be an increased amount of demand."

Despite this, Councillor Mike Stubbs raised concerns over the Smithfield car park in Hanley and said instead of bringing in revenue it is actually costing taxpayers money.

He said: "The only concern I bring up and it's not Newcastle, so it's probably an unfair comparison but you only have to look at our friends in the city and they've built themselves a lovely new car park and it's costing them money. Whether its been built in the wrong place, whether it costs too much money ect, I don't know. I do worry about making a direct comparison but at the same time they've done it and it's costing them money not making them money."

Simon McEneny, Executive Director for Community Development and Economic Growth, told the committee: "The problem that Stoke found is that they opened a new car park and didn't close any existing car parks. So they didn't have an increased demand; they've just spread their butter more thinly over the bread.

"We will be closing car parks to force people into the new car park and it is slightly more expensive but it won't be a pound after 1pm, you'll be paying charges during the afternoon and into the evening and that's built into the model. So I think we're going to be different to Stoke because we're closing the Midway."

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