Car Parking - Improvements

[GJMarshy]

@Kraken27

Thanks for expanding on that! Yes I remember the issue with the Ropers well, I had no idea the family behind JCB have had such a long-standing feud with Towers.

There is a problem though that we need to solve, and it’s in AT, JCB, and the general publics interest.

A) Traffic congestion through Alton and the surrounding country lanes is unacceptable no matter how you slice it. The carbon & noise pollution from such traffic is damaging.

B) The park misses out on a large customer base who don’t own a car, as they have no need for one. People who live in cities such as Manchester where public transport is (mostly) very good, cannot visit the park. Government and planning reform is actively dis-incentivising car-dependency, so in the coming years we can expect fewer people to own and run cars.

C) Land usage.. The surface car park is almost as big as the park itself, and is an incredible waste of space for land which could be used for park and resort expansion. If less people drive, less parking is required, and that land can be better used. OR you move parking facilities to a location closer to a main road where access it better.

D) The monorail is on its last legs, and most people walk now anyway. It’s expensive for the park to operate, and the most cost-efficient alternative is a shuttle bus. If that’s the case, why not have it shuttle guests from a combined P&R facility and railway station such as Uttoxeter.

I realise transport accessibility is fairly dry stuff to talk about, but it does need addressing. The park does need to adapt to the changing demographic and environmental concerns. It also has huge markets of people who currently can’t access it.

 

[rob666]

The people without cars, who want to visit the Towers, don't want to catch three trains and a bus to get there.
They go on coach trips to the Towers instead, and have done for the best part of a century... including my gran, on an open topped charabanc in the late thirties.

 

[Skyscraper]

The people without cars, who want to visit the Towers, don't want to catch three trains and a bus to get there.
They go on coach trips to the Towers instead, and have done for the best part of a century... including my gran, on an open topped charabanc in the late thirties.

Or we go with people who have cars! (I'm one of them)

 

[Kraken27]

@GJMarshy

I would not say JCB / the Bamfords have a "fued" with Towers - it's more a case that John Broome rubbed them up the wrong way 40 years ago & people have long memories. (Rather like Derby licensing magistrates who only recently granted a long-standing Indian restaurant an alcohol licence again - it was revoked close on 30 years ago due to an incident involving a chef chasing a customer whilst brandishing a meat cleaver!)

Back to Towers - the main issue most people (especially enthusiasts) have with the parking / transport links is that Ralph Armond (the then Divisional Director of Towers) went on record in the early 2000's when the parking charge was introduced saying the money would be used to "improve transport links". Said transport links are as bad now as they were then (if not worse). Ralph also added that the buildings they would erect for the parking staff "would not be temporary shacks" - no, they are crappy looking Portakabins with zero attempt at theming them.

On the subject of the access road / relief road - there are two issues; Firstly Towers had clearly expected that Staffordshire Moorlands District Council / Staffordshire County Council would cough up a fair bit of the cost. Nope, the Councils told Towers they would have to fund the road themselves - and a figure of £10-£15m was banded around. The access / relief road would therefore cost in excess of a new Secret Weapon & not lead to any increase in guest visitation. Secondly - and more significantly - the access / relief road would require the use of JCB owned land.

Towers would have to try and get a Compulsory Purchase Order to acquire the land - this may have been possible with the government in power in the early 2000's (Labour). But whilst a Tory government is in power it won't happen - Mr Bamford Senior is a huge donor to the Tories (he hosted a wedding party for ex-PM Boris Johnson at his country mansion).

The parking offering at Towers is now insufficient for a busy day, due to car park space being lost for Adventure Golf, Enchanted Village / Stargazing Pods. Towers really did miss a trick in not using the planning consent they have been granted to get the large grass car park covered with permeable concrete blocks. Construction workers were crying out for work due to the pandemic & a huge open-air site would have meant the work could be done socially distanced with ease. It all came down to Merlin not wanting to put their hands in their pocket.

 

[Dobba]

When I was checking for any new information on the heritage project associated with the Project Horizon approval last week, I noticed a Non Material Amendment application had been submitted regarding the car parking planning application that was granted permission three years ago.

Well, it has now been fleshed out with documentation.

Planning Applications - Staffordshire Moorlands District Council

How to make an application and what it will cost

publicaccess.staffsmoorlands.gov.uk

 

[AT86]

It seems the gist of this update is they want to delay the full installation of this new parking until after the 2025 season.

The proposal is to construct the access road before 7th April this year so that the planning permission that was granted in 2020 doesn’t expire.

They will then continue to use the parking for a max of 28 days per year on the existing grass as they do now.

After 2025 season they will then complete the upgrade.

 

[karl.stubbs]

Where is this access road going?

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[Craig]

Where is this access road going?

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It would go where the right turn is down toward the hotels:

There's already an entrance into the meadow on the access road for Stargazing Pod parking, this would just create a proper entrance with a tarmac road rather than the dirt road that it is now:

 

[Dobba]

As of yesterday, the proposed amendment has been approved.

 

[karl.stubbs]

Is any changes to the car park going to be made before the start of next season?

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[Craig]

Is any changes to the car park going to be made before the start of next season?

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It's unlikely. As mentioned in previous posts above, the plan is to complete the full upgrade at a later date from 2025. Unless we see anything else crop up, I would presume this will remain the case.

As much as car parking is an issue at the moment, a lot of the congestion can be avoided if the car parking teams had a little more processes set in stone about what to do. For example, parking on the meadows this year meant a massive queue waiting for people to muck about on the field, when a couple more staff members could've kept things moving much easier.

At Scarefest, parking into the Enchanted Village car parks, guests weren't being directed to walk off the car park in the lane ahead of the cars coming in, resulting in cars coming in slower as pedestrians were crossing the car parking spaces. A bit more thought, and things will move considerably quicker.