At a parking strategy meeting with Bucks County Council (BCC) and Wycombe District Council (WDC) last week, Marlow Town Council (MTC) proposed its plan to help relieve parking in the town.
The proposal involves the creation of a decked car park in the current main car park on Riley Road, behind Sainsbury’s, which would almost double the number of current parking spaces from 146 to around 290. (See end of this article for detailed images of the proposal)
NOTE: It is important to note that the town’s public car parks are the responsibility of WDC, and the roads are the responsibility of BCC. So MTC cannot insist that these plans are followed through, but they are working to promote “joined up” thinking between the councils on Marlow’s parking issues.
MTC stated that car parks of this type of construction can be built in a phased way with little disruption to current parking, and at a cost of between £1.6 and £2 million.
The Mayor, Jocelyn Towns, and Deputy Mayor, Chris Funnell, have been working on this project with the support of architects Tom Russell Design, who specialise in design for Education and Local Government.
The plans, presented by the Mayor and Deputy Mayor to Cllr Julia Adey and Cllr Mark Shaw, are part of MTC’s stated objective to address congestion in the business areas of the town, maintain free parking in shopping streets and bolster overall parking capacity.
Marlow Mayor Jocelyn Towns said: “We are actively targeting parking capacity in all areas of the town through collaboration, backed by solid data. We have commissioned a proof of concept for a decked car park in the heart of the town, which will nearly double surface parking.”
MTC expects a response once WDC’s review of parking is released in late May.
At MyMarlow, we think this is a great proposal, which has worked well in many other locations. Double the parking in that area, with no additional space taken up? We look forward to hearing if WDC are up for it!
