Hospital’s car park to cost £6m

A 600-space multi-storey car park at a Black Country hospital will cost more than £6 million, it was revealed today.

Bosses at Dudley’s Russells Hall Hospital have confirmed the figures behind the scheme for the first time, allocating half of its annual capital budget to the project.

The huge outlay on the new staff car park, which it is hoped will reduce parking congestion, comes despite critics claiming it will not work unless charges are removed.

They say that while the new staff spaces will free up room for patients, high fees could cause visitors to snub hospital parking and continue to park in nearby residential streets instead.

Paul Assinder, director of finance at Dudley Group of Hospitals, confirmed the £6 million figure at this month’s trust board meeting.

He told committee members the scheme would eat up half of the trust’s capital budget of £12.2 million.

When the plan was approved by Dudley Council in March, councillor Geoffrey Southall, said he did not think the difficulties would be totally resolved until the car park was made completely free for everyone.

He said: “I think parking charges at hospitals are a tax on the sick and it is the same around the country.  

“I think a lot of the congestion problems are caused because people don’t want to pay car parking charges.”

But other members have  welcomed the scheme. Councillor Steve Waltho, a member of the hospital groups’ council of governors, said the new car park was “nothing less than crucial”.

“This is long overdue and it will come as a great relief to a huge number of people,” he said.

Residents living around the hospital have long complained about parking congestion, with both visitors and staff accused of leaving cars on the streets around the site. The problems were exacerbated when health services from around the borough began to be centralised at Russells Hall.

The 3600 sq ft building will increase staff car park-ing capacity by more than five times, and will be constructed on what is currently a temporary 106 space car park. The scheme was finally approved in March, six months after the application was lodged.