By Joe McCann
ARDS and North Down Council has warned it will take 38 years to bring its car parks up to an acceptable standard under its current budget, with the projected repair cost sitting at £2.1m.
The figures were revealed at a meeting of the council’s Environment Committee last night when councillors were told that many council car parks are projected to be in a state of disrepair for the foreseeable future.
Several car parks across Bangor and Newtownards have been identified as needing urgent repairs, but with the council struggling to secure the necessary funding, they may continue to deteriorate for decades.
Among the worst-affected car parks are Abbey Street West in Bangor, which requires £25,130 worth of resurfacing and relining work, while Mills Road will need £70,560 to be properly repaired.
The most expensive project in Bangor is Quay Street, where resurfacing is expected to cost £134,505.
In Newtownards South Street/Court Street is estimated as needing £179,200 in repairs, Old Cross Street West requiring £83,510, and West Street set to cost £55,300 to fix.
These six car parks alone will require over £500,000, but that is just a fraction of the total amount needed to bring all council-owned car parks up to standard.
Currently, the council only has £171,000 currently set aside to deal with the most urgent work—covering only those car parks that have fallen below a 75% condition score.
The council have recommended that all car parks be repaired to at least an 85% condition score and to do this, the projected long-term fix costs soar to £2.1 m.
Due to these figures, the council has projected it would take nearly four decades to complete all the necessary repairs, during which time surfaces will continue to deteriorate, requiring even more work in the future.
The report given to committee states: “The expected lifespan of the bitmac surface would be approximately 20 years, meaning we will perpetually be ‘behind the curve’ when trying to address the backlog of work with the budget available.”
This information shows the council will likely be dealing with a perpetual cycle of run down and deteriorated car parks.
Some of the options being considered to increase the funding available for these repairs include higher car parking charges which the council states could generate an extra £500,000 a year based on current usage levels.
However, the rollout of new tariffs has also currently been delayed due to legal and legislative barriers, meaning that additional funding is not yet available.
Until the council can secure the necessary approvals, car parks across Bangor and Newtownards will continue to decline, leaving residents, businesses and commuters having to navigate a network of increasingly deteriorating car parks.
