Worries over car park revamp
Doubt surrounds the future of controversial plans to redevelop Stafford's Tipping Street car park – after it was revealed that scrapping the plans would cost £1 million.
The Tory leadership that took control of Staffordshire County Council in May had been considering pulling out of plans to replace the car park off South Walls with new buildings to house 1,750 county council staff – a decision taken by the previous Labour administration.
The authority has now announced that, after learning of the cost of backing out, the car park will close as scheduled this Saturday to allow archaelogical investigations to get under way at the site.
But it is still refusing to commit to seeing the multi-million pound scheme through, saying it will be continuing to examine all its options.
The county council cabinet inherited the decision to build offices and retail units at the Tipping Street site from the previous administration. Several Stafford Borough councillors have raised fears over a lack of parking provision in the plans.
County councillor Mark Winnington, cabinet member for performance and organisation, said: "We inherited a decision and while there are consequences to pulling out, we do not want to proceed blindly with no thought to the costs to the taxpayer.
"The Tipping Street development would be a massive commitment, we want to look at all the options available. We recognise the project could be a catalyst to the regeneration of Stafford town centre and has the capacity to help transform the county council into a more modern, efficient organisation."
But Councillor Winnington said council chiefs would be further investigating its options while archaeological investigations are taking place at the site. "Only when we are satisfied that the project will deliver cost savings for tax payers will we allow the project to move to the next stage," he said.
