Town’s 10-hour parking spaces prove very popular, says report

The study was carried out in 2018, but has only just been published in the annual monitoring report of the island development plan.

The investigation involved nine locations in Town in the morning and afternoon, and found that the long-stay parking was either completely full, or very close to full.

Over the course of two days in August only 2.4% of the 10-hour spaces were available, which was down from 6% in the previous year.

The only free spaces were in the car parks farthest from Town, at the East Arm and the Odeon.

The short-term parking spaces fared better – across the day there was available capacity of around 15%.

However, there were no free three-hour spaces in the morning, but there was room in the two-hour, one-hour and half-hour spaces.

The annual monitoring report states that local reliance on car use has resulted in a substantial area of the harbour being dedicated to parking, creating a ‘visually unattractive’ appearance and ‘not representing efficient use of land in a prime location’.

Underpinning the various planning policies is a clear aspiration to reduce dependency on the car and support the integrated transport strategy.

In the consultation in the drawing up of the annual monitoring report, the Guernsey Society of Architects commented that ‘there needs to be a single reference document identifying the States approved transport strategy and a States-led comprehensive contemporary review’ and the desire to curb car use ‘does not work when the States does not provide practical transport alternatives or appropriate infrastructure’.

The seafront enhancement area project is cited in the report as an opportunity to address parking issues.

‘This will allow parking provision to be considered and planned in a holistic and comprehensive manner, within the full context of the economic and social contribution the harbour areas will make in the future and the overall access and movement around the main centres.’

In total there are 4,158 public parking spaces in Town, and 652 in St Sampson’s and the Vale.

During the planning inquiry for the island development plan the inspectors did not find any evidence that parking in the main centres and main centre outer areas was insufficient, and this latest report comments that ‘no further evidence has been forthcoming’.