2:54pm Thursday 17th May 2012
PART of a Colchester town centre car park is to close for at least a month while a notoriously faulty lift is repaired.
Refurbishment work on Vineyard Street car park is due to start on May 28.
Colchester Council, which operates the car park, plans to finish the work by the beginning of July, so all parking spaces are available for the summer holidays.
The project involves a major overhaul of the lift linking it with Lion Walk shopping centre, as well as work on the surface of the car park.
Town centre shoppers and visitors have complained for years about the frequently broken lift.
In March, it was revealed Essex County Council had agreed to spend £50,000 on having it modernised and making it more reliable and accessible.
A Colchester Council spokesman said: “The car park will not close. However, the work will reduce the amount of parking space available short-term and there will be some parts of the car park with restricted use. Temporary signs will advise drivers of the reduced space.”
The spokesman added there would be signs to other town centre car parks, including Priory Street and St Botolph’s, while season ticket holders would also be given alternative spaces if needed.
County council officers are working through objections to long-awaited, controversial plans to ban cars from Colchester High Street during the day.
If it goes ahead, the plan would see disabled spaces lost on the High Street, with about 15 created at Vineyard Street car park.
As a result, a working lift is essential.
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