Car park set to go
It seems that the King Street multi-storey car
park in Maidstone town centre could be more quickly re-developed
than previously thought.
Back in October last year,
Maidstone council took the decision to demolish the car park, built
in the 1970s, because erosion of the concrete structure was
threatening a major refurbishment bill, possibly of up to
£700,000.
Cabinet members decided it
would probably be the wrong time in the current economic climate to
attempt to market the land, which the council owns, so they
submitted a planning application to demolish the existing structure
and to create a surface car park with 64 spaces in its
place.
However, before the planning
committee has even determined that application, the council
confirmed that it has already received "developer interest " in
this site, for housing.
Council leader Chris Garland
(Con) said any interest was "welcome."
He said the town would not
miss the surface car park if that did not go ahead. He said: "Our
figures suggest even without the surface car park, the town still
has a surplus of around 300 car-parking places over the
ideal."
The multi-storey car park
currently has 213 spaces. The building also contains a ground floor
retail unit, last used by the Co-op, but empty since
2011.
No developer has yet filed a
planning application.
The council has estimated
that demolishing the old building will cost around
£650,000.
12/02/13
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