New retirement flats plan unveiled for Radford car park site...

[dutchman]

130 car parking spaces will be lost if the plans get the go ahead



Dozens of new retirement flats could be built on a Coventry car park site. Plans for 51 apartments on land off Radford Road were lodged with the council last week, 13 June.

The three-storey building would include private homes for people aged 60 and above, as well as communal areas. The project is being developed by McCarthy Stone which manages retirement homes across the UK.

A statement with plans said there is an “acute shortage” of specialist housing for older people in the UK, with just 7,000 retirement units delivered each year compared to demand for 30,000. It added: “McCarthy Stone is seeking to improve the affordability, flexibility and choice of later living accommodation, recognising that there has been an inequality of provision that has led to many in the UK regarding specialist later living housing options as being unsuitable for their needs, or too expensive.”

But the development would also see most parking spaces on the privately owned car park lost, according to the application. 130 spaces would go and the remaining 20 would be used by residents of the new complex, though plans also refer to an extra seven spaces on an access road.

However, a survey conducted on behalf of nearby bingo hall Buzz Bingo found that the car park is under-used. There will be enough room in a separate ‘main’ car park and streets next to the venue if this ‘overspill’ car park is closed, it concluded.

A separate bid to scrap a planning condition from the 1960s limiting how the bingo hall building is used if the car park were to be closed will also be made. The scheme is yet to be decided on by council officers and can be viewed online under reference: PL/2024/0001106/FULM.