1 minute read
Parking
The Station Car Park comprises 284 parking spaces, of which 270 are regular car parking spaces, 8 are for short stays and 6 for disabled. It also counts with 4 spaces for motorcycles and 100 spaces for cycles. The Depot also has 2 disabled spaces.
The Station Car Park is occupied, on average, only between 25-50% of its capacity.
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There are a number of public car parks in the vicinity, on a reasonable distance by foot, and at least two large private car parks serving Lewes Jobcentre and the East Sussex College south of the railway. Considering the variations in working patterns since the Covid-19 pandemic, with less staff attending their workplace in a daily basis and more remote working and studying patterns, I would challenge the actual existence of the Station Car Park.
Given the proximity of public and private car parks in the station area, I recommend the following:
• Survey the use and capacity of these car parks and identify the actual need of parking spaces for railway users only.
• Create partnerships between local bodies and Network Rail with others (Jobcentre and East Sussex Collage) to share existing car parks with other users, maximising their sustainability and an efficient use of land.
• Promote, through the removal of parking spaces, a change in transportation behaviour from carsolutions to active and public transport modes.
The above should give enough grounds to significantly reduce or omit the existing car park, which currently used on a small proportion. If there are public and private car parks in town that are not used on their full capacity, shouldn’t a solution be proposed to rationalise these and make an efficient use of land as well as encouraging sustainable transport?
TAKEAWAYS
• Understand the actual parking need of the station and find alternative reduced parking provision within existing car parks in the area.
• Omit the Station Car Park, leaving only cycle and disabled spaces.
Conservation Area
Air Quality Management Area
Scheduled Monument
Land allocated for residential development
