Ouseburn car park to close at night to prevent speed racers
A car park in Newcastle will start being locked up overnight - to crack down on anti-social behaviour
A car park in Newcastle will start being locked up overnight - to crack down on anti-social behaviour.
Council bosses confirmed the Spillers Car park in Ouseburn will be permanently closed at 10 pm every night now - after being plagued with people speed racing cars around it through the night - and complaints from nearby residents.
At the request of the police, local authority security officials have been going in nightly for almost a year to install a barrier that blocks access to what was a 24/7 parking spot.
What began as a temporary measure last September to stop the riverside site being used by racing vehicles is now set to remain in place for good, meaning the car park will be shut from 10pm to 6am every day.
A Newcastle City Council report confirmed: “Spillers Car Park, like all other surface car parks the City Council operates, is formally open 24/7. However, due to significant anti-social behaviour, complaints from adjacent residents and request from Northumbria Police, we have been required to close the car park at 10pm each night and re-open the following day at 6am.
“The car park has unfortunately been the subject of sustained anti-social behaviour activity, including the speeding/racing of cars around the car park and surrounding area late into the evening.
“A range of interventions have taken place following multi-agency meetings with all relevant stakeholders including the Police and the Council’s Community Safety team. This includes increase staff patrols, the moving of the concrete rings to reduce the size of the car park and installation of CCTV.
“Whilst these initiatives have had some limited success, the issues continue. Following a request from the Police, we have informally closed the car park at 10pm each night, with the installation of a physical barrier, with colleagues in security undertaking the arrangements of closing at 10pm daily and reopening at 6am. It should be noted that pedestrian access to the car park will remain 24 hours, but vehicles are unable to arrive or leave during the hours closed.
“Alternative parking provision is within the area which has later opening hours, including the Quayside MSCP which is open until midnight daily.”
Anyone who leaves their vehicle in the car park after the barrier is erected at 10pm can retrieve it before midnight – but will have to pay a £100 release fee to have security staff come back and lift the blockade.
The council pledged that the extra cost of locking and reopening the car park every day, estimated at £4,745 per year, would “not be passed onto users of the car park”.
In 2021, the local authority decided to introduce parking charges at the Spillers Wharf location for the first time – in order to stop it from being packed out by commuters looking for free parking close to the city centre.
The future of the car park is uncertain, with major redevelopment plans having emerged for the area.
While planning permission has expired for the controversial Whey Aye Wheel project, which would have seen Europe’s biggest observation wheel built at Spillers Wharf, there remain proposals to build housing on the riverside plot.