Carlton St Car Park costs council £300k in repairs on top of £250k annual losses

North Somerset Council has been forced to spend more than £300,000 on “numerous maintenance issues” at a poorly constructed car park that is losing around £250,000 a year.

Carlton Street Car Park, built in 2012, has suffered such serious structural problems that its upper floors have remained closed since November 2023.

The council pays over £500,000 a year to lease the Weston-super-Mare multi-storey, yet reported a £269,000 loss on it in the last financial year.

Carlton Street Car Park (Photo: Google)

A new council report has also revealed that maintenance costs have now reached £300,000 as of 2024. It states: “Generally, during the first ten years of a building’s life, the only maintenance expected is compliance works, routine servicing, and the replacement of consumable items.

The level of expenditure is significantly above what should be required and has not resolved the ongoing issues, with frequent closures of the upper floors occurring.”

The car park’s lifts are currently all out of service because rainwater from the sloping upper deck drains directly into the shafts. The report also identifies “cracking and movement” in the front elevation, and the structure is not strong enough to support electric vehicles or large SUVs.

Although the closure of the upper levels has reduced parking income, council officers warned that even at full capacity it was “rare” for the car park to break even. Despite this, the council is locked into the lease until 2058, under terms that only allow rent to increase.

The lease requires the council to maintain the building in “good and substantial order” and to keep at least 350 parking spaces open, although the landlord is not currently enforcing the latter condition.

In an unusual arrangement, the council owns the freehold on the land beneath the car park, but leases the building from the holder of a 200-year lease.

Under the leaseback agreement, the council will take ownership of the car park itself once the 45-year lease expires.

The report states that since 2019 the council has taken “all reasonable and lawful steps” to protect public finances and maintain the car park. This has included specialist legal advice, protective legal action, and exploring claims against the original contractors and surveyors.

However, due to the lease terms, insolvency of some parties, and the time that has passed, no viable legal claim could be established.

The original deal took place at a time when the now councillor for Gordano Valley; Cllr Nigel Ashton was leader of North Somerset Council.

Weston Independent News has previously approached Cllr Ashton for an interview over the matter but received no response.

Cllr Nigel Ashton (Photo: North Somerset Council)

The findings will be presented to the council’s Corporate, Assets, Transport, and Environmental Services Scrutiny Committee (CATE) on Thursday. It was during a CATE meeting in July that the scandal was first exposed, in a report the committee’s chair, Cllr Steve Bridger called “one of the grimiest, most depressing, damaging reports I have read.”

The council is now weighing up four options; permanently closing the upper floors and operating only the ground level, repairing and reopening the full building, closing it entirely, or demolishing it to build a new, fully functional car park. The financial modelling of each option is expected by December.

Should Cllr Nigel Ashton resign over the Carlton St Car Park fiasco?

• 0%Yes
• 0%No