Labour say that the demolition of the multistorey provide a chance to solve some of the issue caused by pedestrianisation.

Pic: Google Streeview – The Birmingham Road multi-storey car park.

Lichfield District Council has proposed demolishing the multistorey to get the redevelopment to finally restart the Friarsgate project which fell apart in 2018. The council is also planning for a “meanwhile use” for the land once the demolition has taken place which would see the area freed up used as an outdoor theatre and cinema, in addition to food and retail stalls.

But Cllr Colin Ball and Cllr Dave Robertson warned that the cabinet risked missing a chance to solve some of the issues caused by pedestrianisation by not seeing the car park as part of the wider City Centre.

Cllr Dave Robertson, deputy leader of the Labour Group, said “Just because the site is part of the Friarsgate area doesn’t mean you can forget everything else. We needed a plan for the car park, but we should really be using this space to fix some of the problems that the council has caused with their bungled implementation of pedestrianisation. There’s a chance here to create some disabled parking spaces and to find a way to connect them to the new cinema and the Three Spires shopping centre. The ‘meanwhile use’ suggested by the council seems to be a plan to create another market square 250 yards way from the one we already have.”

Cllr Colin Ball, shadow cabinet member for A Great Place to Live, said that while it was good to see progress on the redevelopment, the council could not afford to focus solely on that scheme. “I am very glad that something is finally happening with the redevelopment of the city centre and particularly with the car park – we’ve already waited too long for the development to happen and this will hopefully bring it forward faster. But that alone isn’t good enough. Why not think about different parts of the city centre can support each other and think about how some blue badge bays here would benefit the businesses at that end of Lichfield?”