Brixham Central Car Park: View from the Brixham Chamber of Commerce

This is the Brixham Chamber of Commerce’s response to Torbay Council’s proposals for a new central car park. In summary, the Chamber supports the development, and our preferred option is the three-level lowered car park (Option 4).

For many years parking has been the top-ranked request from our members, both to increase capacity and to improve the aesthetics of the town centre, rather than the current dated concrete car park.

Most of our members agree that parking capacity within the town is urgently needed. We see this in the lack of parking spaces in the summer months, and in the 3-hour limit in the central car park. This will be compounded by three upcoming changes: (1) Oxen Cove is due to be converted from a car park to fishing processing buildings; (2) the new fish industry is likely to lead to some Freshwater car park spaces being used for employee parking; and (3) proposals for pedestrianisation of the SE side of the inner harbour will lose long-term, private parking spaces along that road.

The majority of our members therefore strongly support the development of a new car park. This view is based on feedback gathered over multiple meetings, including a council consultation event in late September. From the options presented, we do not support the ‘higher’ three-level option, due to its impact on views from Middle St. The Chamber’s preference is for the three-level lowered car park (Option 4, 360 spaces), followed by the two-level car park (Option 2, 310 spaces).

As a business community we have several strong preferences for the design and construction of the new car park, some of which we are happy to see included in the new plans:

Design:

• Whatever is built must look good. These plans look good and green. We need to make sure the attractive public realm elements are not dropped to save money.
• The link between different parts of town (especially Middle St and Fore St) is very important. We are pleased to see the proposed clear links and want to ensure that pedestrian access onto Middle St is included, ideally with more than one entry point from the top deck. We are also pleased to see that wayfinding has been included.
• We are keen to see the Town Square restored at least in part to a green, pedestrian space.
• The town centre toilets should be considered alongside the development of the car park. They are in poor condition and are not covered by the current proposals.
• Any vehicle access onto Middle St is a significant safety risk and needs looking at very carefully. If it is retained, we ask for full traffic flow modelling and traffic calming, particularly below the brow of the hill.
• Antisocial behaviour (especially in the evenings) is a concern for town-centre businesses. We are pleased to see that this has been considered in the design and reassured by the promise of additional CCTV.
• We would like a say in how spaces are allocated. The council has said there is flexibility here; we would like to establish a mechanism for local businesses to have ongoing input into decisions such as whether to limit parking duration, offer long-stay parking, vary the scheme during the year, sell spaces for personal use or accommodation providers etc.

Construction:

• The impact on businesses will be severe during the construction phase. We strongly support the “phased” approach to keep as much car park open as possible during the crucial summer seasons.
• We are supportive of the concept of a Park and Ride facility at Churston. For it to work, it must have affordable fares for families, an evening service, and enough bus capacity to take visitors into town.
• We believe that a previous proposal for a free shuttle bus running between MDL and Freshwater car parks, via the town centre, would help enormously during the construction phase alongside the Park and Ride option.
• Vehicle access and loading for Pump St businesses must be maintained throughout and after construction.
• Brixham must be seen to be open for business during the works. We ask for clear signage and publicity, and a named council contact for affected businesses.

This is not a unanimous position. Our chamber of commerce represents a broad cross section of businesses based in and near to Brixham. This includes many bricks-and-mortar businesses, market traders, tourism businesses, accommodation providers, and independent professionals, among others. Within such a group there are many personal views and different opinions. We respect that there are many business members within the Chamber who would not agree – partly or fully – with this response, however we are presenting here the majority view.