Hefty £4m Cost Of East Grinstead Parking Extension Revealed

Building an extra level of parking spaces at an East Grinstead car park would cost around £3.9m, Mid-Sussex councillors have been told.

The town centre has an ongoing problem with parking, with a shortage of spaces during peak periods.

The idea of trying to ease things by adding a deck on top of the current Queensway car park was first explored in 2021, with the cost estimated to be around £1.86m.

During a meeting of the district council’s cabinet on Monday (May 19) members shared the disappointment of officers who reported that the scheme would now not be viable, even if the cost of parking there was raised substantially.

They asked officers to carry out further work to explore alternative options for improving off-street parking within the town. And they noted the work already being carried out to lay out what the final five years of the Parking Strategy bring.

This includes trialling improved technology, better parking enforcement, and improving things overall for customers.

Robert Eggleston, leader of the council, said spending £3.9m to provide an extra 107 parking spaces was ‘difficult to justify’ and that that road was ‘closed off’.

Queensway is one of ten car parks in East Grinstead which are owned and operated by the district council, seven of which are charged and three uncharged.

Mr Eggleston lauded the use of technology to tell people how many spaces were available in each of the council’s car parks, allowing them to choose to park elsewhere rather than circling Queensway waiting for a space to appear.