Owners discuss state of car park Add your comments
Last updated at 09:34, Thursday, 23 July 2009
THE owners of Whitehaven’s multi-storey have answered criticism of the town centre car park.
Celia MacKenzie, chief executive of Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners who own the building, was responding to calls from Copeland councillors that many features of the car park are unsatisfactory.
They had singled out the “slippery” steps and the lack of a lift and toilet facilities for particular criticism.
However, at a meeting last week, Mrs MacKenzie told councillors that measures are in place to improve the situation.
“It is not a beautiful building but it is functional, safe and well-manned,” she said.
“We are aware of its shortcomings but we look after it to the best of our ability and we promise that this will continue.”
In terms of the internal steps, Mrs MacKenzie revealed that the Commissioners are in the final stages of trialling a product that will make the steps non-slip.
“The steps are our number one priority,” she added.
A solution for the lift, however, which has been out of use for two years, is not yet available.
“There are fundamental flaws in the architectural design of the building and the lift is a victim of that,” she said. The shaft is open to the elements and the lift has many faults that are intermittent. It is not an option to use the lift until these are resolved.
“We hope, however, that our manufacturers can create a lift that could be used for years to come. But this will cost approximately £50,000 which we haven’t got at the moment and I will need to see where we can get this from.”
Mrs MacKenzie confirmed that there is currently no possibility of the toilets being opened to the public, adding that it would cost 40p per user to make them viable.
“In terms of security and safety, there have been no legal claims against us for any incident in the car park, but we are aware that a minor incident is nearly a major one.
“And there has only been one incident of vandalism, and the guilty party was quickly caught from our CCTV.”
Mrs MacKenzie invited councillors on a visit to the car park and to report back on anything that concerns them.
First published at 15:40, Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk
Have your say
What complete hogwash. I suggest the money for the lift is gathered from Ms Mckenzies post and other ineffective middle managers. Also I suggest the harbour commission move form its pleasant offices in the Rum Story to the office in the Car Park. I suspect Ms Mckenzie or a more proactive successor will then resolve the problems of the car park more willingly.
Posted by DarthVader on 26 July 2009 at 19:40