News

Loose roof tiles mean emergency car park repairs

By Jack Sommers
June 07, 2010

EMERGENCY repair work is needed to keep people safe in and around one of Aldershot’s busiest town centre car parks.

Council officers inspecting Aldershot multi-storey car park, which is in High Street across from Bridges Estate Agents, found loose roof tiles a few weeks ago, sparking fears that they could fall and injure someone.

They also found soffit boards and gutters were missing, having fallen or been removed.

Now repair work costing £34,000 is needed to make the council-owned car park safe.

Rushmoor Borough Council said the roof work was more expensive because it was several storeys high.

But it added the cost was particularly worth it because the car park was likely to become more heavily used as the Aldershot urban extension goes ahead.

The safety problems were discovered while engineers were working on the car park.

“The Aldershot multi-storey car park occupies an important and busy location in the town centre,” a council report said.

“It is one of the key car parks which is likely to see increased usage in the next few years, especially as the town is regenerated.

“It is also likely to remain in the council’s ownership for the foreseeable future.

“There was a real danger that roof tiles could fall, posing considerable danger to pedestrians and other users of the High Street.

“As a result, the chief executive authorised immediate action to address the danger and the roof was secured.”

The missing guttering was around the lift shaft and side elevations to roads as well as the rear elevation that allows cars to exit.

The two towers above the car park’s staircases were checked and found to be fine.

The council’s cabinet approved chief executive Andrew Lloyd’s authorisation of the work and agreed to allocate funds to cover the costs.

The report presented to them said: “The works to the Aldershot multi-storey car park are necessary to ensure that it remains safe and helps to maintain the structure of the building.

“With the car park likely to be used more fully in the future, the investment will assist its operational effectiveness.”

Council leader Peter Moyle said: “Like all structures that have been up a long time, there’s maintenance that needs to be done, not only for property reasons but also because of the safety factors.

“We took the view that the work needs to be done and needs to be done quickly.”

| Submit Comments | View Comments (2)

« Previous Story | Next Story »

Most recent user comments 2 of 2

Show 15 | 25 | 50 per page

This appears just to be another oversight of basic maintenance by the council as they focus all their efforts on Farnborough town centre.

Remember the good old days of this car park, free parking after 3pm (only taken up by local residents who knew about the offer), cheaper parking on the higher floors!

All the extra revenue from these schemes the council kindly axed can surely be put back into fixing the car park and removing the smell of urine from the stairwells.

And as for "With the carpark likely to be used more in the future" What planet, can you see people parking in this car park to walk half a mile to Westgate? Dream on.

PDLH
8/06/2010 at 19:36

£34,000 for repair work!!! just give the minimum wage to jobless. If they really want work there jump at the chance and will sort out un-employment at the same time!