Council plan to manage parking after NCP closures

Extra resources are being put into managing traffic in Leicester city centre after the imminent closure of four National Car Parks (NCP) sites.

Car parks in Lee Circle, Rutland Street, Abbey Street and East Street will close permanently on Friday after NCP went into administration.

The car parks have 2,400 spaces between them, which will be lost, but Leicester City Council said figures showed they were poorly occupied.

The authority has insisted there is "plenty of capacity", with more than 10,000 spaces elsewhere in the city centre, and said it had a traffic management plan to manage potential congestion.

Despite that, Liberal Democrat city councillor Zuffar Haq said the authority had not grasped the potential impact of the closures on businesses.

"The council says there are plenty of off‑street parking places without the NCPs," Haq said.

"That may be true, but the spaces are not necessarily near where people need them.

"When the Rutland Centre NCP closes, it will have an impact on Curve theatre and many other businesses in the cultural quarter.

"This will really harm the night-time economy of the city.

"It's going to be a serious problem - a crisis.

"You can't just lose thousands of spaces in a big city centre like Leicester overnight and expect things to be okay."

The authority's highways director, Martin Fletcher, said: "Figures we have obtained [from NCP] for the actual occupancy of these car parks, compared to the number of spaces available in them, show that even at the busiest times the maximum number of spaces taken is 1,321.

"Since learning of these closures on Tuesday, we have devoted considerable resources to planning our response.

"There is spare capacity of more than 2,500 spaces in the remaining NCP car parks, our own city centre multi-storeys, and Highcross car parks, which means there are more than enough alternative options available.

"We are alerting drivers to the closures and the alternative car parks using our variable message signs located at key points around the city. We are also using them to promote the city's three park and ride services."

The council said traffic management plans were in place should queuing occur at the city centre multi-storey car parks at the weekend and into next week, and that the area traffic control team would be monitoring traffic flows.

Fletcher added: "We recognise that visitors to Curve and the cultural quarter are used to parking in the Rutland Centre, but the Haymarket, Newarke Street and railway station car parks are less than 10 minutes' walk away."

Shaf Islam, who owns Chutney Ivy restaurant near the Rutland Centre site, said bookings had already been cancelled since the closure was confirmed.

"It will have an effect on our business straight away," he told the BBC.

"It's another kick in the teeth. Going forward, I hope the mess that has become NCP gets sorted.

"You may have 9,000 other spaces in the city centre, but if they're not where people want to park, they'll go elsewhere."

Curve chief executive Chris Stafford said: "As a business, it is concerning. The car park is right next to Curve.

"A high volume of our audiences drive in, and the NCP is really convenient. To have it closed now is a real concern for us.

"However, there are more than 10,000 car parking spaces across the city centre that remain available, and we hope the lack of parking next to the theatre won't deter audiences."

Curve has published details of alternative parking options on social media, where some people have said the loss of nearby parking would particularly affect disabled audience members.

The Leicester closures are among 22 NCP sites shutting nationwide, according to administrators PwC.

A spokesperson said: "Regrettably, due to the closure of these sites, 33 employees will be made redundant on 31 March.

"The other 318 NCP car parks remain open and there are no further sites identified for closure at this time."

Listen to BBC Radio Leicester on Sounds and follow BBC Leicester on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.