A LONG-RUNNING dispute over parking spaces between shipyard workers and residents may be eased over the coming months after planners gave the go ahead for development on Barrow Island.
Plans have been approved for construction of a new car park at Cornmill Crossing and to expand an existing site at Farm Street, adding room for almost 1,200 cars.
A further two sites are being considered that would add even more space to the existing 1,000 that are spread out across the shipyards.
A spokesman from BAE Systems Submarines said: “As part of our site redevelopment, we are required to submit a car parking strategy to Barrow Borough Council and Cumbria County Council, taking into account the anticipated growth in our workforce and to minimise any impact on the local community.
“We commissioned a study by independent experts who helped us shape a long-term solution which has been submitted to the council and agreed.”
It is hoped that now the plans have been approved, construction will begin soon to begin to ease congestion.
A BAE spokesman said: ”We hope the Cornmill Crossing car park will be open in the next two months and work will begin later this year to make our temporary car parking arrangements on the HIP car park permanent.”
There have long been calls from locals to do more to alleviate the strain on homeowner‘s streets.
Speaking about the new parking proposals, a resident who has lived in Dundee Street, Barrow, for more than 40 years said: “There‘s only one-sided parking on the street, but workers park all over the place.
“It doesn’t seem to matter to them.”
Another resident, who did not want to be named, said: “I just cannot believe just how many cares there are now.
“At least BAE are trying, but parking has been very annoying in the past.”
As well as providing more car parking for the anticipated expansion of the BAE workforce, it is understood that the business is doing more to reduce the strain on Barrow’s streets.
‘Green travel’ initiatives aimed to reduce the number of cars on the roads and streets are being discussed.
This will be welcome news to locals. One man who did not want to be named said: “I just don‘t know what the answer is. Why can’t they do more car sharing?”
Initiatives proposed include encouraging staff to walk, cycle or use public transport more often to get to work.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here