The future of car parking at Home Park

Amongst all the documents now available for review on PCC's planning portal is Appendix J of the Transport Assessment, a copy of PAFC's current Matchday Traffic Management Plan.

The Plan states that from 3 hours before kick-off and up until 2 hours after the final whistle on match days, PAFC holds a licence granting it a non-exclusive right to use the Milehouse Park and Ride Car Park which accommodates around 590 cars.

As the arrangement is non-exclusive, it means that the car park remains open for public use, so visitors arriving near to kick-off may struggle to park, hence the preference for the use of other transport options.

The Plan also confirms that limited numbers of VIPs and match officials will be allocated parking in Higher Home Park and that this parking is stewarded.

It would appear that the new HHP plans will have a major impact on parking around the club, affecting Argyle fans not only on matchdays, but also for other users of the club's facilities, including the 800 cover capacity income generating corporate and hospitality facilities within the new Grandstand on every other day too, as PAFC only have a licence to use the Park and Ride car park on match days.

If the planned development goes ahead for just Higher Home Park alone, it means that there will be a LOT LESS capacity in and around the Home Park Stadium and a LOT MORE demand, all at the same time.

According to PCC parking requirements set out in the adopted Development Guideline (2013), around 350 additional spaces would be needed to service all the new developments planned for the HHP car park, but the planning application allows for just 67 spaces, with another 39 distributed around the stadium for PAFC use, making a maximum total of 106 spaces.

So, the proposal is nearly 250 car parking spaces short of what PCC normally require on-site for a successful application, in order to prevent congestion and traffic issues in neighbouring streets.

We can't assume that the 590 spaces in the Park and Ride will be able to take up the slack, as the existing licence restricts when Argyle and users of the club's facilities can use these spaces - three hours before and two hours after a Saturday game, for example.

Lots of other drivers use the Park and Ride as well, even if they're not going to a match, so there will be increased pressure on the P&R as a result of the loss of so many spaces at HHP, combined with the extra traffic generated by the Ice Rink, restaurants and bars, the gymnasium and the hotel, if they are all built to current plan.
 
As things stand, the new HHP proposals will make life very difficult for Argyle fans trying to park on matchdays, or when they're trying to collect tickets or buy merchandise from the club shop, as well as for corporate and hospitality guests on any day of the week - because there just won't be enough spaces for them all to park near enough to the ground any more.

The lack of parking, and in particular convenient parking for the corporate and hospitality facilities, will have a significant and detrimental impact upon both the match day and non-match day revenue the Club hope to generate.

These numbers suggest that the days of free car parking at Home Park are numbered - changes and charges are almost unavoidable.

They also suggest that PCC may not be as keen on this planning application as some may hope.

Thank you John!

Thanks John, it seems that parking will be a nightmare in the unlikely event that the Brentmare's anti pafc plan comes to fruition, i can see why the Pasoti Dictator wanted your removal from his site, that sort of post could lead to AAA passes being withdrawn.

Cheers John, informative as ever.

Thanks John. Someone who is still able should post this on that other vile site.

Vehicles were one of the biggest problems with the last plan, and so it is with this one. In fact the last plan never got around to sorting the access and junction dilemmas. Brent is a chancer, and he doesn't care much if match days cause mayhem in the locality, he doesn't live there.
Free parking and free access to green spaces has always been a sacred cow, and rightly so. The paying thing was unresolved last time around. It goes right to the core of municipal parks with free access, and what they are there for. Not only that, Brent's inappropriate plans could actually devastate business on a Saturday for the life centre and proposed ice rink, and there have been many run ins at the life centre with raised tempers. One has to be careful here. We have to make very sure that traffic concerns don't give Brent an excuse to ask for yet more acreage to be concreted for cars. No wonder he wanted the taverners to apply for their boot sales to be held on Loves Field. Only a small token ask to add 4 hours on a Saturday to the vehicle access there, and on and on and on.. All this "extra demand" lends weight to further industrialising the old council depot, despoiling the wider park area. There's a sliding agenda here, and these plans aren't the only discussions going on, with other proposals in the pipeline.

But then, leaving out the important week long impact on the park, to be honest, parking around Argyle on match days has always been a nightmare even going back to the 70s when my father used to have regular run ins with fans over his 4 parking places before we went to the game. So, I'll tell you all what, you lazy gits, get a bus, ride a bike, a taxi, walk for heaven's sake. Away fans have little choice, but home fans do.

Brent wants to replace Park and Ride with Park and Scoff. It's a park, and a residential area, not the city centre ffs.

It contains mostly the same problems that his last cluster had attached to it. This time the main problems involve the parking. I wonder what Hallet is thinking now his 5 million is now going on a project thats highly unlikely to ever see the light of day?!
The whole thing was a pile of shite anyway, every grey cloud.....................

I notice on Saturday Argyle has taken over the parking space along side the HHP fence and if you have not got the authorisation you will be wheel clamped, who gives the authorisation and who does the wheel clamping. Brent also rents out part of HHP carpark to private firms one is a car windscreen repair business who has a storage container there.

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If travellers moved in, how would you know?

PatDunne wrote:

If travellers moved in, how would you know?

Now that would be funny.

Thanks JL for the useful update, another example of ill thought out argo Brentonomics from the master property developer.

At present the car park is open to all

Milehouse park and ride

Services 100 and 101 run from this park and ride site, at Plymouth Argyle Football Club on Outland Road (PL2 3DE).

Service 100 takes 10 minutes to get to the city centre and runs every 10 to 12 minutes during peak times from Monday to Saturday. Service 101 runs via Derriford Hospital.

Get the latest service 100 timetable or service 101 timetable and ticket prices from the Stagecoach website.

When Plymouth Argyle are playing the bus service still runs, from Outland Road. Check the Plymouth Argyle fixture list (home games are marked with an H).

Motorhome parking is available in this car park.

Tgwu wrote:

Motorhome parking is available in this car park.

Free of charge.....??

IU can't work out if the thing is purposely shit. Its quite clear this is not going to happen

I had a couple of e-mails from a Councilor about car parking, cannot give out the Councilor name because it is private E-Mails. I have had my wrist slapped by FOCP. Meeting is on the 12th if you like to find out what they are up to.

Me to Councilor

Number 6 consultation feedback  Would you support the provision of additional car-parking in the land to the east of Higher Home Park?

Him/Her to me

That is not the proposal or what James Brent wants. The area needs tidying up/landscaping.
Of course, it is part of the Argyle estate although the boundary with parkland is not obvious.

However, the planning committee would neef good grounds to refuse, otherwise it goes to appeal with potential costs against the City Council.

Something has to be done to tidy up the Argyle site and the vets/boarding kennel site. There was a previous application, not from Argyle, to develop vet/accountant site into large public house, encroaching onto parkland. Fortunately that did not proceed.

This proposal is a lot more acceptable than the previous proposal which did receive planning permission and could have happened. No cinema screens and the much needed ice rink.

I am sure Blunts Lane could be restored as a condition of the development, and at least the stadium and surrounding areas will be brought up to the standard of the Life Centre, which had exceeded all usage expectations, the building of which I think the FOCP opposed!

I shall be interested in the traffic management plans, but at least the Segrave Rd/Outland Rd junction will be unaltered, we have had enough of major road works.

By the way this Councilor is on the planning committee

Hugh Watt wrote:

IU can't work out if the thing is purposely shit. Its quite clear this is not going to happen

Correct on both accounts...

Tgwu wrote:

I had a couple of e-mails from a Councilor about car parking, cannot give out the Councilor name because it is private E-Mails.  I have had my wrist slapped by FOCP. Meeting is on the 12th if you like to find out what they are up to.

Me to Councilor

Number 6 consultation feedback  Would you support the provision of additional car-parking in the land to the east of Higher Home Park?

Him/Her to me

That is not the proposal or what James Brent wants. The area needs tidying up/landscaping.
Of course, it is part of the Argyle estate although the boundary with parkland is not obvious.

However, the planning committee would neef good grounds to refuse, otherwise it goes to appeal with potential costs against the City Council.

Something has to be done to tidy up the Argyle site and the vets/boarding kennel site. There was a previous application, not from Argyle, to develop vet/accountant site into large public house, encroaching onto parkland. Fortunately that did not proceed.

This proposal is a lot more acceptable than the previous proposal which did receive planning permission and could have happened. No cinema screens and the much needed ice rink.

I am sure Blunts Lane could be restored as a condition of the development, and at least the  stadium and surrounding areas will be brought up to the standard of the Life Centre, which had exceeded all usage expectations, the building of which I think the FOCP opposed!

I shall be interested in the traffic management plans, but at least the Segrave  Rd/Outland Rd junction will be unaltered, we have had enough of major road works.

By the way this Councilor is on the planning committee

Great so the council have rolled over already.

Nailed on to be approved, council wants ice rink and boulevard.

Just think

Argyle at home, a weekend swimming gala, plus you will have teams playing bowls netball football and other  sport all going on in side the Life Centre, football and ruby on the out side pitches, a fair on the events field and a ice show in the new ice rink. Bowls on the out side greens, new tennis courts and families in the new play zone, plus the Dog walkers.
Do not for get all area around Central Park will be permit parking only


It could happen

If there was a Butterfly market and a cycle race as well, then the Argyle match would get called off...

Hugh Watt wrote:

Tgwu wrote:

I had a couple of e-mails from a Councilor about car parking, cannot give out the Councilor name because it is private E-Mails.  I have had my wrist slapped by FOCP. Meeting is on the 12th if you like to find out what they are up to.

Me to Councilor

Number 6 consultation feedback  Would you support the provision of additional car-parking in the land to the east of Higher Home Park?

Him/Her to me

That is not the proposal or what James Brent wants. The area needs tidying up/landscaping.
Of course, it is part of the Argyle estate although the boundary with parkland is not obvious.

However, the planning committee would neef good grounds to refuse, otherwise it goes to appeal with potential costs against the City Council.

Something has to be done to tidy up the Argyle site and the vets/boarding kennel site. There was a previous application, not from Argyle, to develop vet/accountant site into large public house, encroaching onto parkland. Fortunately that did not proceed.

This proposal is a lot more acceptable than the previous proposal which did receive planning permission and could have happened. No cinema screens and the much needed ice rink.

I am sure Blunts Lane could be restored as a condition of the development, and at least the  stadium and surrounding areas will be brought up to the standard of the Life Centre, which had exceeded all usage expectations, the building of which I think the FOCP opposed!

I shall be interested in the traffic management plans, but at least the Segrave  Rd/Outland Rd junction will be unaltered, we have had enough of major road works.

By the way this Councilor is on the planning committee

Great so the council have rolled over already.

Proof reads his writing i see. PCC have no spines at and easy to manipulate hence why we have so many student apartments more than the students of the uni,city college, marjons and the art college can fill.

Here is another e-mail from a differance Councillor

Quote

I am always concerned to see development on the park, I've spent most of my time on the council campaigning to keep the park green.
I often attend and work with the friends of Central Park.
While I want Argyle to do well i want to protect the park.
Having been shown the plans last Monday with James Brent I don't see much encroachment on the park, the land being discussed is private land.

Much 'encroachment' or none at all?

Speaking to Nikk last night who is always polite to me and hes very much of the opinion the planning permission is pretty much nailed on and Brent has ensured enough car parking spaces will be available.
We'll see...