Call for more spaces rejected after public car park in Hythe sold to Lidl
CALLS have been rejected for more parking in Hythe after New Forest District Council sold a public car park last year to make way for a discount supermarket.
Some residents and local councillors have been pushing for extra spaces to replace the loss of 160 bays at the former St John’s Street facility where a new Lidl is soon to open.
However, their pleas were turned down by councillors on NFDC’s environment overview and scrutiny panel.
They were told by a report that monitoring since August showed there was enough parking – although plans were in place for expansion, if necessary.
The report said there could be strain on Tuesday market days, but the other two car parks in Jones Lane and New Road provided enough room during the rest of the week.
The new supermarket will also add 104 spaces which, when the land sale was approved, were understood would be made available to the public for up to 90 minutes, subject to Lidl’s agreement.
However, officers at the meeting last Thursday were unable to confirm what the company’s parking arrangements would be.
NFDC street scene service manager Rob Lane promised monitoring of Hythe’s parking would continue and an update provided at the end of 2019.
Colin Read, NFDC’s executive head of operations, told councillors: “I think what Lidl will do is to open up and if the car park works well then people will be able to park there and go to the town centre.
“We have been put under a fair bit of pressure by Cllrs Dan Poole and James Binns, so we have a design ready in case we need additional parking. But it will be this monitoring that allows us to understand what the behaviour will be over the coming months.
“We understand that with the selling off of the Lidl site there might be a need to put additional parking on the other car parks and we will honour that, if necessary.
“We have the land to put it on and a design by an external contractor if we need to go ahead. But we do not want to expend money if there’s no need.”
He noted that the parking problems faced by Lymington and Ringwood were “far worse” than Hythe, where even on busy days drivers could still use side streets.
Cllr Allan Glass said: “I am really pleased to see the monitoring will continue after Lidl opens because we do not know what will happen.
“I do have concerns that we may end up deluged with cars. It will be a novelty because there is no other Lidl nearby except in Totton. I think we will be surprised to see how far they come.”
Ringwood North Cllr Christine Ford pointed to the Lidl in her town, saying: “They always seem to provide a very good number of parking spaces for cars.
“Bear in mind that the people who use these places do not stay very long – a maximum of 40 minutes before they go again. I think what Lidl is providing will be absolutely fine.”
