Car park opening will offset demolition of 'considerably underused' multi-storey

THE reopening of a city centre car park will offset the demolition of a “considerably underused” multi-storey, councillors have been told.

The NCP car park on Hall Ings is due to close later this month, and shortly after will be demolished as part of plans to create a new entrance to Bradford Interchange station.

It was also recently announced that the Kirkgate Centre car park will be demolished in the coming years as part of proposals to flatten the shopping centre.

At a meeting of Bradford Council on Tuesday, concerns were raised that the loss of two city centre car parks could put people off visiting the city centre.

Councillor Debbie Davies (Cons, Baildon) asked Council bosses: “How the demolition of the NCP site and the Kirkgate Centre, which combined will result in the loss of over 1,000 car parking spaces in the city centre, will attract inward investment opportunities and also visitor footfall for shopping and leisure purposes, particularly after the opening of Bradford Live which has a capacity of over 4,000 people?”

In response the Council Executive pointed out that the 120 space Jacobs Well car park was soon to re-open.

The car park – in the former site of the Council’s Jacob’s Well offices, is a short distance from the NCP car park, which is also owned by Bradford Council.

During the height of the Covid Pandemic the Jacobs Well car park became a vaccination centre, with numerous portable buildings installed on the site.

The vaccination centre closed in August, and this week the temporary buildings are being hoisted off the site to prepare for the car park’s re-opening next month.

Jacobs Well car park (Image: newsquest)

The response to Cllr Davies’ question read: “The NCP car park demolition will be offset by the reactivation of Jacobs Well car park in November (which covers the approximate current NCP usage), and by the eventual provision of the Park and Ride site at Odsal “It should be noted that in the case of both the NCP on Hall Ings and the Kirkgate Centre, the car parking areas are considerably underused, and there is significant other parking capacity within the city centre.”

The Hall Ings car park has 562 spaces – although in recent years the upper floors have been closed off. The Kirkgate Centre car park has 650 spaces.

Other large car parks in the city centre include multi storey car parks at Broadway (1,301), the Leisure Exchange (966) and an NCP off Thornton Road (432), as well as car parks on George Street (430) and Bradford Crown Court (156).