An urgent committee meeting was convened to discuss the closure and redevelopment of Church Walk carpark.
The committee discussed the three options presented, ranging from no car park option to option 3 with just 50 spaces. There are currently 95 spaces available for shoppers on this car park. There also appears to be very limited access for loading and unloading of livery and stall supplies for the market.
This is probably the last area in Castle Street that appears to work well for retail, supplying high levels of footfall and supplies to the businesses that operate along Castle Street.
The committee voted unanimously to help fight against the development and to use every means available to persuade the present administration to drop the proposals.
In addition, many businesses are in an extremely fragile state coming out of this pandemic and many having already borrowed heavily from the banks to sustain them through the lock down. It was unanimously believed that any further stress affecting footfall will almost certainly cause an avalanche of store closures up and down Hinckley high street.
It was also stressed that businesses had already taken a substantial hit since the closure of the the coop car park and leisure centre relocation to its current site. Footfall drops of greater than 40% along parts of Castle Street have already been witnessed and we have already seen the loss of many shops including Caves, Four Seasons and Dunelm. Church walk car park with its 95 spaces is absolutely key to Castle Street retail’s survival.
