Background of the Hospital car parking

There have been constant controversial issues’ concerning the car parking facilities at Royal Preston Hospital, Sharoe Green Lane, Preston, dating back to 2004.


Plans were withdrawn for a multi-storey car park at RPH in 2006, by the Hospital. The withdrawal came after 25 residents in the local area complained that it would be an eyesore.
Since then the issue has been on the agenda at all forums and council meetings. The Preston City council committee are trying to overcome many issues facing them from members of the public as well as patients and staff.

In a bid to ease the well-documented traffic and parking problems caused in the Fulwood area, the Hospital had asked for permission to build a 350-space car park on the site, when that was withdrawn –there were still many questions left to answer, such as what would be done in the future to ease the problems.

Bosses at the hospital were tight-lipped on the detailed reasons for the change of heart, but a spokesman said: "There were problems with the application – we weren't happy with the design of the car park but they also haven't really covered the wider issues of the overall parking problems on the site. They took the decision to withdraw the application."

David Forshaw, divisional manager for development control at Preston Council, said the authority was expecting a fresh application in the near future.However a governor at the Hospital who wants to remain anonymous said: “We will not be putting more plans in, as it is an expensive process and there is a risk it would be rejected again.”





Introduction of Park and Ride schemes

RPH launched two new park and ride schemes last summer for staff, in a bid to ease congestion and free up parking spaces at the Hospital site.

The initiative is being introduced following Preston City Council’s decision to block additional parking at Royal Preston Hospital.

The NHS Trust has been forced to look at alternatives, such as a park and ride scheme, because it would cost around £120,000 in legal fees to contest the decision by the City Council and its views on the construction of any additional parking.

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals has reached agreement with Preston Grasshoppers to use 200 spaces on the rugby club’s site on Lightfoot Lane –which is situated ½ mile from junction 32 on the M6 and under 1½ miles from Royal Preston Hospital. Buses will run for several hours each weekday to ferry staff between the park and ride site and the hospital. The second scheme is based at the site of the old maternity unit, on Sharoe Grenn Lane, a ten minute drive from RPH.

Doctors and shift Staff who continue to park at Royal Preston Hospital will see their car parking charges rise by 50p a week for non-reserved parking and 87p a week for reserved parking to contribute towards running the scheme. Prices for patients and visitors will remain the same.

The Trust is also proposing a number of other changes to improve the parking situation and ease congestion for staff and. These include:

�� A new way one-way system at Royal Preston Hospital
�� Pay and display parking bays around the roads network at Royal
Preston
�� Real-time electronic signs to direct people to empty parking spaces
�� Extra security cameras on car parks and entrances
�� New barriers to car park entrances and exits


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Making money from the sick, or funding new car parking schemes?

Health bosses have raked in more than £1m in the last year from parking charges for patients, visitors and staff at two Lancashire Hospitals.

Since 2005 car parks at Royal Preston and Chorley hospitals have brought in more than £3.6m to the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, making a profit after expenditure of almost £170,000.

Patients and visitors are charged £1.50 to park for up to 24 hours. Staff were charged an annual fee of £78 for unreserved and £162 for reserved parking between 2005 and 2007 and, from April 2007, that increased to £100 for unreserved and £200 for reserved spaces.

The charges were described as a "tax on the sick", but bosses defended them, saying the money was pumped back into improving car parking on both sites.But Nigel Evans, MP for Ribble Valley and Fulwood, said it was a "staggering sum". He added: "It's a lottery win for the NHS but it's a tax on either the sick, those visiting the sick or those looking after the sick.”

Ian Cox, director of facilities and services at the NHS trust Hospital, said the money raised had paid for car park improvements, park-and-ride schemes, CCTV, security patrols and lighting measures at the cost of around £1m a year. He said: "Although we raise a significant amount from parking charges we reinvest all of these monies to create new parking facilities and, more recently, to fund staff parking – ensuring that it is enough to discourage people from using our car parks as a cheap park-and-ride alternative."

Patients have welcomed a new scheme to ease the parking chaos at Royal Preston Hospital.
The park and ride facility at Preston Grasshoppers, on Lightfoot Lane in Fulwood, has been introduced to transport NHS workers from the car park to the hospital.Although the move has sparked outrage among staff who claims they have been forced to participate and that it will add an hour to their working day.
Hospital bosses say there have been around 35-50 cars parked each day since the scheme began.