Multi - Story Car Park at the Gate.

Bristol City planning a multi-storey car park at Ashton Gate to ease parking issues on matchdays
It needs to be part of a 'holistic and broad approach' say stadium bosses.

Bristol Sport are actively pursuing plans to build a multi-storey car park next to its Ashton Gate ground in a bid to solve the parking nightmare for Bristol City and Bristol rugby fans.

The club has revealed it wants to build a car park with hundreds of spaces close to the recently-redeveloped Ashton Gate, as part of a ‘holistic and broader approach’ to solving the ongoing saga of travel to and parking at the new stadium.

While Bristol City, Bristol Sport or Ashton Gate stadium have not revealed the location of the multi-storey car park, speculation has swirled around the future of the Wickes DIY store, which is located right at the road entrance to the stadium’s existing small car park on Winterstoke Road.

In a message to residents, the chairman of Ashton Gate Stadium Martin Griffiths, outlined how a multi-storey car park at Ashton Gate was one of three aspirations under a headline of ‘what we want to do’.

But the other two - opening the Long Ashton Park and Ride and a new railway station at Ashton Gate - are outside the control of the stadium bosses, and one will happen soon and the other is unlikely now to ever happen.

“We accept many supporters visiting the stadium come from rural areas where public transport to the stadium isn’t an option,” he said.

“A new multi-storey car park at Ashton Gate would help congestion on the surrounding streets significantly,” he added.

Since the redevelopment of Ashton Gate stadium was completed, the average attendance for Bristol City games has rocketed up by almost a third - from 16,300 ten years ago to almost 22,000 this season.

And over the same decade, the population of BS3 has also increased by more than a fifth, with car ownership increasing.

There has been an ongoing issue with matchday parking problems on the streets around the ground.

Avon Fire Brigade have highlighted the dangers faced by parked cars blocking residential streets, and as recently as Easter, First Bus expressed their 'deep concern' at the lack of solutions to the problem, which mean the number 24 bus often has to terminate its route early because it can’t navigate through the streets around the ground or through nearby Ashton Vale.

Mr Griffiths said the problem needed everyone involved - First Bus, Bristol Sport, the city council and - in terms of enforcement - the police - to work together.

He outlined all the measures taken by Bristol Sport in the past couple of years - including subsidising a huge increase in the number of park and ride buses that now serve Ashton Gate on matchdays, as well as provided financial contributions to changes to the road layout on streets around the ground to free up space, and improved information to point fans in the direction of 2,750 off-street parking spaces that are opened up near the ground on matchdays.

But Mr Griffiths stopped short of promising a matchday parking scheme - a point of contention between Bristol City Council and Bristol Sport, following a bizarre disagreement over whether a planning condition requiring the club to fund one had been triggered by ‘ghost’ fans who bought tickets to one match at New Year this season, but didn’t actually turn up.

“We know that some local residents have advocated the introduction of a matchday residents’ parking scheme as a solution,” said Mr Griffiths.

“However, we believe an holistic and broader approach is needed to reduce the inconvenience caused on matchdays by increased parking pressures. There has been and continues to be a lot of effort and activity to work towards this,” he added.

Bristol Sport would have to fund a matchday parking scheme if Bristol City were promoted to the Premier League or if three games out of a consecutive five attracted crowds of more than 25,000.

That appeared to happen during the middle of this season, when City’s run in the Carabao Cup produced sell-out crowds against Manchester United and Manchester City, with one of the three league games in between also producing a publicised attendance figure of just over 25,000.

But councillors who then expected that planning condition to be triggered and the club to start a matchday parking scheme were left furious when the club said while the number of people who paid to watch the game was more than 25,000, fewer than 25,000 actually physically turned up to see it.

A multi-storey car park could be a controversial move for Ashton Gate - as it could be seen by environmentalists as encouraging car use to events at the stadium.

But local residents - who moved to live close to the ground that has been there for more than 100 years - are unlikely to object, given it could mean a big drop in demand for spaces in their residential streets.
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristol-city-planning-multi-storey-1621261

 

Would certainly help reduce the car parking problem but I wonder if it's going to be part of the rumoured 'Hotel Complex Scheme', if so a lot of the spaces would be occupied by paying guests.