Hoole councillor urges the council to talk with Network Rail to transform burnt-out building into station car park

TRANSFORMING the burnt-out Enterprise Centre into a car park for would make Hoole bridge safer for pedestrians, according to a CWaC councillor.

After plans for Network Rail to build a nine-storey car park near Chester Railway Station were thrown out by Cheshire West and Chester Council a Hoole councillor is calling on the authority to ‘jump on the chance’ to transform the empty building and make a safer and more welcoming root into the city.

Councillor for Hoole Bob Thompson wants the council to talk to the rail company about restoring and converting the building into a station car park to draw more visitors to the city, increase footfall in Hoole and open a new walkway for pedestrians.

He said: “Northern Rail could have their car parking spaces, which would resolve a problem and open up an opportunity to have more footfall in Hoole, and a safer walkway and cycle route than Hoole Bridge.

“I think CWaC is looking at the Enterprise Centre as a problem rather than an opportunity. But that area is part of land ear-marked as a car park in the One City Plan.

“Why don’t they just seize the opportunity to do something useful? A car park would bring more visitors to the town and city, without having to put a multi-storey car park reaching into the sky, and at the same time give pedestrians and cyclists the opportunity to travel over the railway in a safe and comfortable way.”

Cllr Thompson added: “There haven’t been any accidents recently and therefore it is not considered a priority. Residents walking across that bridge on a daily basis do genuinely fear for their lives, and naturally cyclists do not want to be pedalling away in front of a lorry so they are using the pavement. With the narrow pavements and traffic it is an accident waiting to happen.”

In February last year a petition was launched on the CWaC website calling for action on the ‘shockingly dangerous Hoole Bridge, but at the time council said the financial situation made it ‘unlikely that these options will be considered in the near future’.

A spokesperson for Network Rail said: “We are currently considering all options available to us.”