Council seeks car park guarantees over Aldi plans

Calls have been made for a legal agreement to be put in place to ensure shoppers and residents in Driffield do not lose access to free public parking should Aldi get the green light for their new supermarket on the site of the free Eastgate car park.

As reported in the Wolds Weekly, Aldi has submitted a planning application to build a new store and customer car park on Eastgate South and part of the former Cattle Market site.

Running alongside the supermarket plans is a submission from Gatsby Group for a new council-owned community car park, replacing the current facility on Eastgate South.

Gatsby has submitted plans to demolish the former Wooden House on Exchange Street to create access for the new car park.

The Aldi car park will provide 121 spaces with a maximum stay of 90 minutes and the community car park an additional 105.

This would mean an extra 98 spaces for residents and visitors on top of what is currently offered.

However, despite the applications running in parallel, concerns have been raised that there is no legal agreement binding the two applications and now Driffield Town Council is calling for a formal, legal agreement to be put in place to ensure Driffield does not lose its free public car park.

Driffield town clerk Claire Binnington said losing free parking in the town would have “catastrophic consequences to the vitality of Driffield town centre.”

She told the Wolds Weekly: “It has come to the attention of Driffield Town Council that there appears to be no legal agreement that links the applications currently under consideration by East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC), for the proposed supermarket at the Eastgate car park and the proposed free public car park at the former Cattle Market site. 

“If there is such an agreement, there is no reference to it in either planning applications. 

“This is particularly worrying as, although, the town council received verbal assurances that the public car park would be built before the development on the supermarket even began, there is no evidence we can find that this is set in stone on a legal footing. 

“As a consequence, the town council is to seek assurances from the ERYC that there is a legal agreement in place, and if there is not, that one is drawn up as a matter of urgency.

“The worst case scenario is that the applicant at the former Cattle Market site decides they no longer wish to provide a public car park as a planning application is not legally binding.

“We, of course, doubt that this would be the case, however, we are keen to ensure that this could not happen as to lose a free public car park the size proposed at the former Cattle Market would have catastrophic consequences to the vitality of Driffield town centre.”

The loss of free public car parking in the town has also been raised by other businesses.

Chris Betteridge from De Pol Associates acting on behalf of Iceland said the loss of car parking would have a “potentially damaging effect on the town centre.”

He said: “The loss of car parking spaces and the restrictions on parking will discourage people from visiting Driffield and for those that do visit the town will be discouraged from leaving Aldi because of the imposed parking restrictions.”

He added: “There is no requirement for the car park application to be approved if this application (Aldi) is approved and there would be no requirement for the car park to be delivered even if it was approved.

“It is unclear on what basis the applicants can rely on a separate application, by a different applicant on land they do not own and have no control over to make up any potential loss of parking as a result of this proposal.”

Despite these concerns, Aldi and Gatsby Group have always maintained their intention to ensure that parking at the site, both for the Aldi car park and the community car park, will remain free.

In a statement given to the Wolds Weekly last year, a spokesperson said: “Aldi Stores Ltd and Gatsby Group recognise the importance of parking in Driffield town centre.

“As part of the proposals, Aldi will provide free parking within the store’s car park for up to 90 minutes and the council-owned new car park will have free parking all day every day.”

The planning application can be viewed via the ERYC planning portal using the reference 2/02912/STPLF.