Motorists warned Derbion car park will be closed for next three days
Anyone intending to park in the Derbion basement car park off Traffic Street - between now and Tuesday - will find it is closed. The Derby shopping centre's management have warned people of the closure on social media saying that it is due to "essential maintenance works".
The car park, which is popular with visitors to Derby Theatre, as well as the shopping centre, closed initially today (Friday, January 17) and is expected to remain closed through until Tuesday (January 21), when it will reopen to the public. Access to Shopmobility will remain open during this time.
A Derbion spokeswoman would not be drawn on the specific details of the maintenance work, but said that it was "nothing major". But said that the main shopping centre car park and Bradshaw Way car park would remain open as usual. She added: "We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause."
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Football fans heading for the Derby County match v Watford match at Pride Park, kick-off 3pm, and expecting to use the basement car park are advised to find an alternative venue.
The closure was criticised on social media by one person who had intended to park there for Derby Theatre and had advised others to do so. Car parking is one of the biggest concerns for many Derby people, who expressed concern when the Assembly Rooms car park closed its 212 spaces on September 30 last year, ahead of potential demolition which has yet to begin.
When that closed, the city had lost at least 1,500 car parking spaces in just two years. This takes into account the loss of the Riverside car park in April 2023, the NCP St Peter's Quarter car park in Colyear Street in 2022 and a number of other smaller car parks which have been swallowed up in the Becketwell area development.
Importantly, the loss of some of these spaces has led to the removal of 24-hour parking and disabled parking in the areas where people actually need them to be. When the Riverside car park closed in 2023, removing 830 spaces, 24/7 parking and valuable centrally-located disabled spaces, local businesses and hotels bewailed the loss of round-the-clock parking.
The Riverside car park remains unoccupied and unused but a development plan was recently unveiled by Derbion, which showed the plan is to demolish it and its place build apartment blocks of between 16 and 18 storeys. The car park land is owned by Derby City Council and the Riverside car park is on a long lease with Derbion.