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Car Parking - Improvements

Thing that annoys me the very most is these car parking charges are under the false guise of it being to encourage other transport means and be environmentally friendly. They are not, they are to raise more money. And Alton towers charges were for the relief road initially.
 
Back to Towers, the really hard bit would be how to exempt premium AP holders & hotel guests from the parking charge without forcing them to register a vehicle. I suspect the "more mature" traffic team at the AT carpark exit barriers are going nowhere fast.
At Thorpe Park the barrier system is linked into the Accesso ticketing system so an annual pass will scan at the barrier. I expect AT would do the same.
Thorpe also have online ticket sales for parking at a lower rate compared to buying in person.
 
Annual pass holders could just scan their passes at the parking fee machines, entering their reg no. as all the paying guests would need to do with ANPR. That at least reduces the scope for manipulating the system, as the pass (if not the owner) has to be present.
AT would need many more payment machines because of the time it takes to enter the reg. no. You'd still end up putting humans on the gate to deal with people who can't remember no. plates, or who haven't paid.

You'd also need miles of cable burying, to link the barriers and payment machines together. Presumably that is mostly there betwen the hotels and the back office, but not to the current barriers.
Magnetic strips and QR codesare are still a decent solution for the AT scenario, as the ticket check validation can be done offline.

r.e. the argument that fees don't offer the claimed environmental incentive. What they do encourage is car sharing, particularly for groups of friends - so reducing local traffic. The planning documents for the new car park surface were claiming average occupancy of 3.2 people per vehicle. (maybe inc. coaches there?), so that does appear to be effective.
 
If you could pay on the app that would reduce the need for payment machines, and you can make it a quid cheaper to entice people to use that.

Add onto that a car finder, and it's a fairly useful system for most casual visitors.

Scan them on the way in too, so I photo of your car appears when you enter the reg, that way you confirm its correct.
 
Drayton Manor works on the number plate system so when you enter and exit the park the barrier lifts up if your a annual pass holder, hotel guest or Staff.
If I go with other family members I go into guess services and hand my pass over and they put a temporary link to that vehicle.
 
Interestingly I heard this weekend that the A50 Growth Corridor Part B is still planned to go ahead with meeting happening behind the scenes that will see improvements to the A50 particularly around Uttoxeter McDonald's roundabout. The reason I bring this up is that I have heard JCB and Alton Towers are each footing part of the bill. Since the parking charge was originally brought in to fund improvements to access roads I wonder if there are many other projects that AT fund towards from the parking kitty that we just don't hear about?
 
I can't see AT contributing financially to that work, its a national trunk road project.

Lord Bamford may well be making a financial contribution to get it done; but I expect that will be a little more direct to Boris and co. to make sure his Conservative buddies give it the priority he wants.
 
I can't see AT contributing financially to that work, its a national trunk road project.

Lord Bamford may well be making a financial contribution to get it done; but I expect that will be a little more direct to Boris and co. to make sure his Conservative buddies give it the priority he wants.

Better for both JCB and Alton Towers to make at least small contributions and keep Staffordshire council happier. Makes it easier for future planning applications if you can show you have got involved in the past.
 
Better for both JCB and Alton Towers to make at least small contributions and keep Staffordshire council happier. Makes it easier for future planning applications if you can show you have got involved in the past.

Money shouldn't influence planning decisions, unless it's a section 106 agreement directly related to the application in question.

That's not always the case though... it's a standing joke around where I live that developers can buy permission for most things!
 
Money shouldn't influence planning decisions, unless it's a section 106 agreement directly related to the application in question.

That's not always the case though... it's a standing joke around where I live that developers can buy permission for most things!

Oh I agree it shouldn't be able to be bought. But planning at AT in the past has had heritage requirements (eg you can only build this coaster if you refurbish this part of the towers/gardens). So getting in ahead and being able to say we contributed towards the local infrastructure would be a good selling point when applying for planning permission.
 
If they are serious about saving money then do away with the barrier attendants on exit - more staff seen there then I did serving food !
I think they have to be there, the angle of the scanning machines, coupled with the gradient of the car park makes it very hard to park close enough to the machine to reach it. I can only imagine the chaos with people reversing to "have another go" if they attnendents weren't there.
 
Alton Towers have paid for/contributed to local infrastructure improvements in the past quite a few time’s. Usually a little more local though, like traffic calming measure in the small villages you have to pass through.

Its also not unusual for large businesses to either proactively, or to be asked to help pay for road improvements. Especially if they’re either the course of the excess traffic or if they’ll benefit from it. Supermarkets do it all the time.
 
Planning permission for this scheme has been approved by the council this week.

As part of the planning permission the deer park wall which is on the edge of this site must be rebuilt within 2years of works starting.

However, with everything going on who knows if they will even do anything with this car park now.
 
Given these improvements would really help on the busy autumn days of ScareFest and Fireworks I think there is a chance it may still go ahead as those days will still be busy over the next few years.
 
I would imagine all the contracts and budgets are allocated.

It's vital work.

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I would imagine all the contracts and budgets are allocated.

It's vital work.

Also worth noting that planning permission is valid for 3yrs from when it is granted for work to commence. Renewing already granted planning permission for a further 3yrs is pretty much a formality too.

I can see this work going ahead. It's a relatively low-cost job to make the meadow usable as a car park in all weather as and when needed (subject to the 50 day wasn't it maximum per season?)

I have no doubt that Towers will really be hoping that Oktoberfest, Scarefest & Fireworks pull in the crowds (assuming the park is open by then). If the crowds do arrive this improved parking will be needed. A fair bit of parking has been lost at Towers over the years due to Air, Hotel guest / staff parking, enchanted village parking, pig shed parking, conference centre parking, Extraordinary Golf etc.
 
In the current situation, I just dont see Towers expanding any car parks just yet.
Another year or two before they can really assess future demand for peak parking.
Too many variables have changed in recent weeks.
 
Now would be a perfect time to crack on with the work. No one around the park and plenty of companies with no or little work, Could either force them to get a better price for the work or at least get it done before this years busy end of season
 
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