TEN more city council-run car parks have achieved national awards for safe parking.
The Park Mark Award is part of the national Safer Parking Scheme - an industry standard for UK car parks that have low crime and measures in place to ensure the safety of people and vehicles.
Earlier this year, Leicester’s Haymarket and Newarke Street car parks received the award for the high standards of safe and secure parking provided there.
Now 10 more council-operated car parks have been certified as having reached the same high standards. They are:
- Enderby Park and Ride
- Birstall Park and Ride
- Meynells Gorse Park and Ride
- Dover Street car park, off Granby Street in Leicester City Centre
- Victoria Park car park, off London Road
- Upper Brown Street car park, off Newarke Street
- Phoenix Square car park, in the Cultural Quarter
- Abbey Park car park, off Abbey Park Road
- St Margarets Pastures car park, off the A6
- Watermead Country Park car park (not overflow), in the north of the city
Each of the 12 car parks has undergone a rigorous assessment by specially trained police assessors, with the Park Mark awarded only to car parks that achieve the challenging standards.
Factors considered include proper management, maintenance, surveillance, lighting, signage and cleanliness.
The purpose of the Safer Parking Scheme is to give guidance to car park operators on how to meet high standards to create a safe, secure environment, in turn reducing crime and the fear of crime within car parks.
It also provides a design framework for architects and developers of new parking facilities.
In each case, the Park Mark Award is initially granted for one year.
Leicester deputy city mayor for climate, economy and culture, Cllr Adam Clarke, said: “We’ve been working hard to ensure that all our council-run car parks meet the same high standards as those at Newarke Street and Haymarket car parks, which were the first to get the Park Mark Award back in July 2023.
“I’m very glad to see that these 10 – including all three of the city’s Park and Ride sites – have now also been recognised with Park Mark Awards.
“Especially so at the moment with the long, dark, winter’s nights upon us, it’s important that people using any of our car parks find them to be clean, safe, welcoming places to leave their vehicles.”
The Park Safe Awards follow on from a series of investments and improvements to the city’s multi-storey car parks.
Earlier this year, a £267,000 scheme saw around 360 sqm of solar panels installed on the roof of Newarke Street car park, to provide renewable energy to power the machines, lights, cameras and other facilities at the car park, as well as other local buildings.
The scheme was funded jointly by city council and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and followed the council’s successful bid for more than £4million of match-funding from the ERDF to support a range of projects to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The car park was also given an overhaul in 2019 with the installation of ANPR cameras, new payment stations, better lighting and improved CCTV coverage.
For details of all parking in Leicester visit the city council’s website here.
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