Wakefield Council to consider city centre car park revamp as it appoints new regen partner

Senior councillors are also expected to consider plans for the redevelopment of Borough Road car park at a private meeting later this month.

In July last year, cabinet members agreed to tender for a private sector partner to help attract investment to revitalise parts of the city centre.

In February 2022, the council announced a 20-year masterplan to address decline in the retail and business sector.

A total 19 buildings and sites owned by the local authority have been earmarked for redevelopment.

They include the council’s depot at Newton Bar and commercial properties on Westmoreland Street and Teall Street.

Historic listed buildings were also named in a report to councillors last summer.

They include the Elizabethan Gallery, on Brook Street, which dates back to the 16th Century, plus Milnes’ Orangery and The Lodge, Back Lane, which were built in 1800s.

Cabinet members are expected to select the preferred developer at a meeting on January 13.

It comes after a six-month “mini-competition procurement process” in which bidders were invited to submit details on how they would develop one of the sites.

According to details of the meeting published on the council’s website, cabinet members are also expected to “enter into a pre-development agreement to enable development of the design proposal for the Borough Road car park site.”

Council leader Denise Jeffery previously said the authority wanted to convert the street level car park to a multi-storey facility “as a matter of urgency” to make up for a loss of city centre parking due to housing development.

Developer Rushbond is currently building houses on former council-run car parks at Rishworth Street and Gills Yard.

Coun Jeffery said the scheme would go against the ‘green agenda’ but the council needed to ‘be realistic’ about residents’ parking demands.

She revealed the plan at a meeting of the council’s regeneration, employment and skills overview committee in 2023.

She said:”Car parking in Wakefield is a big issue that needs to be put up the agenda very quickly.

“We are going to lose the Rishworth Street parking through development, and that will be a blow.

“So we are looking at building a multi-storey car park on Borough Road as a matter of urgency.

“I know that perhaps does not fit in with the green agenda about keeping cars out of the town centre, but I think we have got to be realistic.

“People want to come in their cars and park outside the shops and I think we have got to meet those demands.

According to a council notice, the meeting is expected to take place in private as it will involve the disclosure of “exempt” financial information.