'The best view in town': Huge Stafford waterfront car park unveiled
A new 1,000 space multi-storey car park has been unveiled in Stafford with bosses hailing it as 'one of the best views of the town you can get'.
Business leaders assembled atop the 14-storey structure yesterday ahead of the car park opening to the public on Monday.
The waterfront facility is part of the £70 million Riverside redevelopment.
It overlooks the new Marks & Spencer, Primark and H&M stores under construction as well as provide eye-watering views of the rest of the town matched only by Stafford Castle.
Stafford Borough Council chief executive, Ian Thompson, said: "Apart from back over from the castle the view from the roof is just about the best view of Stafford you can get. I think together with the new shops it will bring a whole lot of new people into Stafford because I think one of the issues people have had felt difficult in the town centre is finding a car parking space – so now we've got in total about 1200 new spaces which will be conveniently located on the top of the shops."
The opening will coincide with the closure of the town's Kingsmead car park which is to be redeveloped into a Morrisons, B&M, Just for Pets as well as room for 450 cars.
Those shops are set to open later on this year while the first of the new Riverside shops is scheduled to welcome customers by the summer.
Mr Thompson added: "I think the car park is absolutely fabulous. It's modern, easy to use and hopefully the ticketing system and pay-on-foot method will be much better than previous systems so I think it's very user friendly.
"I'm very pleased with how the development is going.
"It's been a long wait but by August, September time, most of the main shops should be open which will be a culmination of almost 10-years work. With Stafford town centre, there will lots more to come in the future as well."
