Plans expected to be submitted for a multi storey car park on this well known town centre site

The funding will be used to commission Muse Places, which is the council's development partner for the Talbot Gateway, to prepare and submit an outline planning application for a 700-space car park on King Street.

Regeneration chiefs have been buying up property in the area for the past few years, and first revealed the intention to build a car park two years ago.

It is expected the scheme will also use land formerly occupied by the Syndicate nightclub on Church Street which has been used as a surface car park since the demolition of the Syndicate in 2015.

The council says additional parking is need to meet expected demand from developments including construction of a new civil service hub on Cookson Street which is due to open this summer bringing around 3,000 jobs to the town centre.

A report setting out the decision to allocate funding to the preparation of plans, warns; "The primary risk is that of not securing sufficient car parking in the town centre and thus potentially undermining the huge economic benefits that will be delivered by the Growth and Prosperity Programme.

"There will also be the need to future proof any such development to cater for the planned increases in electric vehicles and the phasing out of diesel and petrol fuelled cars."

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A parking strategy first adopted by the council in 2019 also sets out the need for parking to meet demands of other town centre investment which includes the conference centre at the Winter Gardens, and the Multiversity campus due to be built soon.

A new 1,306 space multi-storey car park opened in May 2024 off Central Drive on the Central Car Park site which is being re-marketed to potential leisure developers following the collapse of previous plans for the land.