THE issue of shipyard car parking on Barrow Island has left Barrow Council and BAe Systems at loggerheads.

Barrow Borough Council planners have suggested the company is taking too long to provide staff car parking.

It follows a backdrop of complaints on Barrow Island where residents have complained of spaces being occupied all day by cars belonging to staff.

A planning application for a massive new car park for Barrow Island goes before the council’s planning committee on Tuesday.

The plan is for a 746-space car park on land at Dova Way, opposite Resolution House, on part of the Waterfront Business Park.

Landowners Cumbria County Council have agreed to lease nearly two hectares to the shipyard so it can be used as a temporary staff car park.

Workers would leave their cars there and catch a shuttle bus to work.

The county council applied for the temporary car park to stay for three years but Barrow Borough Council says it should only need  18 months.

County council representatives have asked planners to give it two years at the least but planning officers want the site free of cars from May 2020.

The council also wants any bus shelters, lights, barriers or turnstiles off-site by July 2020.

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A council report to go before the planning committee said: “It is important that BAe gathers some improved degree of momentum in delivering finished car parks.”

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“I consider that allowing three years consent is excessive. I am also aware of  the slow delivery of finished car parks by BAe.”

A 675-space car park at Cornmill Crossing is in the pipeline for BAe employees but works are not due to start until April 2020.

The Dova Way planning application is critical because BAe will lose 436-spaces when its car park at Buccleuch Dock Road shuts for redevelopment in February 2019.

It is expected to stay shut for 10 months for major works.

The site – formerly home to the company’s HIP building – is being transformed into a new 843-space car park for staff.

However, Barrow Council has warned that any “large” temporary car park on the waterfront site could deter potential developers from investing.

A council officer’s report added that any “lengthy occupation” of Dova Way would also be contrary to the council’s draft local development plan.

That specifies where certain types of development can go, and its council plan for 2017-20 also compels the council to do all it can to attract new employers to Barrow, and sites like the Waterfront Businss Park.

The council said, however, it is prepared to offer a solution to the closure of the HIP car park at Buccleuch Dock Road.

A report to go before Barrow’s planning committee on November 6 said: “The principal issue raised by this application relates to the loss of an area of identified employment land for up to three years. The site is not considered suitable for permanent occupation as a car park.”

A BAe spokesman said: “Currently, the HIP car park is set to close in the first quarter of 2019 for approximately 10 months.

“The work on the HIP will not commence until the temporary arrangements at Waterside are in place. This temporary arrangement would allow for our rolling programme of car park construction and refurbishment.”