THE PARKING ISSUE
Asda have actually REDUCED the number of parking spaces in this new store design from 290 to 270! Parking was a major concern for the last submission because the numbers simply didn't add up for the size of the store. They don't add up this time either - even with a reduced floor space.
NB Asda say they have 283 car parking spaces - which is strictly true - yet 13 of them are designated for Angels at Play nursey and 12 are for disabled parking and under planning law should not be included in the calculated figures. NAiW has based their calcs on 270 parking spaces - if we had been really mean we would have taken out the Angels at Play parking as well and reduced the spaces down to 257!!
However NAiW has several concerns about this:
- During high shopping activity the 270 spaces seem insufficient considering we could expect 10 shoppers to arrive by car every minute and the average shopping time for the weekly shop would be at least 30 minutes. 10 x 30 = 300 spaces ......Oops we have filled up the store already, where will the overflow go? Onto Watton Road, Parks Road, Fanshawe Crescent, Canons Road and Croft Road of course.
- This concern is backed up by Asda's own figures which predict a max inflow to the car park of 415 cars an hour - and considering these people (according to Asda) will also be walking into Ware Town to shop then we can expect them to spend more than 30 minutes in the store!
There is also the little point of where are all their employees going to park?
- The original response from John Mutton (Asda) is that they will "tell their employees to park in Ware's Long Stay Car Park", how absurd is that! A multinational superstore which is making millions by the minute telling their employees to spend their hard earned money to park whilst at work (£3.20 for Ware's long stay car park).
- Asda have changed their stance on this slightly by saying they would encourage their employees not to drive to work - how are they going to do this? With a survey and employ local people! (the survey can actually be seen in their submission documents).
- Now maybe it's just NAiW being silly but if I was paid the money Asda pay their store employees (about £6 per hour), I would not be paying for parking. I would be parking in the store car park or up along the free roads around the store, either reducing the number of parking spaces for customers or blocking the roads for the residents surrounding the store.
Multi Storey Car Park
- There will be some parking beneath the store but the majority of parking will be to the East of the store in a multistorey car park (Car Deck as they like to call it!). The level of the Car Deck will be 4m above road level which will not be the most attractive sight to people coming along Watton Road and Park Road.
- The Car Deck will also be yard away from two properties along Watton Road, at the height of their bedroom windows. What a great neighbour that is - listening to car horns and cars accelerating up the access ramp for most of the day and night, every day and night.
Do you think ASDA have got their sums wrong on Car Parking? NAiW Does!