Sandwell Hospital staff to park at shopping centre for 18 months while new car parks built
Sandwell Hospital staff will have to park at the New Square shopping centre for 18 months during works to build new a multi-storey car park.
Workers will face considerable upheaval while building is ongoing and have to make their way to the hospital from the nearby shopping centre.
A multi-storey car park will be built at Sandwell General to try and put an end to parking problems around the site. Another will also be built at City Hospital, which is also run by the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospital Trust.
The new car parks will be built on land that is already used for parking, meaning there will be a loss of spaces while the work takes place.
The lack of parking spaces has resulted in people parking on nearby side streets, something hospital bosses are keen to put a stop to.
New Square said it had issued permits to around 200 staff, who will have to park on a multi-storey there for 18 months.
The shopping centre has 1,900 spaces across two car parks at Tesco and Primark but said customers would not be affected as the multi-storey is normally closed Monday to Friday and used only at busy times.
Trust chief executive Toby Lewis said in a report to board members: "The build of the new multi-storeys does mean that we can end the risk to local residents of on street overspill. On the other hand it means eighteen months of non-voluntary relocation of some staff car parking from Sandwell to New Square."
The new car parks are being built despite the fact both hospitals will be scaled down when the new Midland Metropolitan Hospital opens in 2022. Sandwell Hospital’s A&E will be scaled down to an urgent care centre when the Midland Met opens its doors.
When the plans were first revealed last year, the trust's director of estates Alan Kenny said the car parks were needed as "demand exceeds the car parking spaces that we have".
Mr Lewis said staff parking charges would be frozen until 2021 when the opening of the new car parks would "justify" a change.
However, he said parking charges will be reduced for lowest-paid staff, with those earning more having to make up the deficit.
