Staff at a major employer that struggles with parking issues are to benefit from a new overflow car park.
bet365 employs around 5,000 people at its base in Etruria, with around 70 per cent of its staff using cars to get to work.
But with 915 spaces on the bet365 House car park, and 2,200 work stations in the building, employees regularly have to search the local area for a place to park.
They often resort to parking in local residential streets and the extra time taken to find a parking place makes some people late for work.
bet365 and nearby WaterWorld have now been granted planning permission by Stoke-on-Trent City Council to turn an undeveloped part of the tourist attraction’s site into a car park exclusively for bet365 workers.
A report submitted with the plans states that bet365 experiences issues with recruitment and staff retention because of parking problems.
And Daily Focus also reported these issues in February when the company raised concerns about the proposed bus gate on nearby Basford Bank.
The new overflow car park will create 299 parking spaces for use between 7.30am and 9.30pm Monday to Friday. Access will be from Marina Way and there will be security control barriers in operation.
As part of the scheme, WaterWorld’s car park will be resurfaced and reconfigured with an increase of 92 spaces, allowing it to accommodate 452 vehicles.
The approved plans are an amendment to the original application submitted in June 2021, with a reduction in spaces created and additional landscaping work added.
A planning statement submitted with the plans reads: “There would be significant public benefits, including removing the occurrence of parking in unsuitable locations; a reduction in the number of vehicular movements on the surrounding network arising as a result of staff looking for alternative locations to park; as well as economic benefits in terms of improving the attractiveness of bet365 as a key employer in the City.”
bet365 has a travel plan in place to reduce single person trips by car but the online gambling company says parking demand is still present and shift patterns mean that public transport is an unrealistic option for many staff.
A council report states: “On balance, the principle of development is accepted. The limited weight that the proposal is given in respect of partly being located on undeveloped land is outweighed by the commercial benefits the car parking would secure for existing long standing businesses.
“Moderate weight is also given to the parking solution helping to remove additional traffic movements by existing bet365 staff in private vehicles already on the highway network.”
Common sense from the planners at last -thank goodness.