A new multi-storey car park is being built opposite the new Hunter Community Health Centre which will have parking for a total of 227 vehicles.

This is an increase of 180 at the former Health Centre site which when added to the 100 public spaces at the existing Ballerup car park opposite the multi-story car park, gives a new total of 327.

The new car park is expected to be open in December 2015, and to help patients and staff while work takes place, a free shuttle bus will operate between Atholl House, the town centre car parks and Hunter Community Health Centre for the duration of the work to enable staff to park at these locations.

Explaining how parking arrangements will operate in the new car park once it opens, Graham Johnston, head of management services, said: “As with all car parking arrangements, it is necessary to get the right balance between the requirements of staff and provide adequate space for patients and the public.

“To help us achieve this we undertook a consultation exercise which included formal meetings with NHS staff representatives, GP practices, and Public Partnership Forum (PPF) representatives.

“We wanted to apply the broad principle that NHS staff based at the new centre who require a vehicle for business purposes – for example GPs, district nurses or community midwives – will be allocated a parking permit.
“Staff who do not have a parking permit will still be able to use the remaining public car parking spaces.”

The new car park will be managed to reduce abuse and maximise the number of spaces available for patients and the public. As part of this, patient parking will limited to 90 minutes. Vehicles that exceed this time will have a fixed penalty applied. For the very small number of consultations which may exceed 90 minutes, arrangements will be put in place to ensure those patients are not issued with fixed penalty notices.

These arrangements will be monitored and reviewed to ensure that no-one is disadvantaged.