Beau Séjour is not the only 1970s relic still in regular use in Guernsey.
In the same week that the island’s only publicly funded leisure centre has been criticised as “tired and dated”, the States team responsible for car parks in the island has admitted that they’re still using measurements from the 1970s to determine the size of parking spaces today.
Deputy Ross Le Brun had asked Environment and Infrastructure (E&I) a series of questions about parking provision on the piers around St Peter Port Harbour, and the answers took him on a step back in time.
E&I admitted that it uses “industry-standard UK design guidance” when marking any off-street public parking spaces.
That guidance was “widely adopted during the 1970s”, an E&I spokesperson said.
This means most standard parking bays in town are 2.4m wide and 4.8m long.
The Crown Pier has slightly smaller parking spaces because of changes made in 2001 where “the spaces were marked marginally shy of the industry standard” for unexplained reasons.
E&I said this measurement hasn’t been reviewed recently and it remains in use, despite it being widely acknowledged that modern cars are larger than comparable models 50 years ago.
With his questions focusing on accessibility, Deputy Le Brun was told there is no designated parent-and-child spaces at any of the Salerie, North Beach, Crown Pier, or Albert Pier car parks.
The number of ‘blue badge’ parking spaces on each is also minimal compared to the number of ‘regular spaces’ provided.
Just two blue badge spaces exist at Salerie Corner, compared to 409 ‘standard’ car parking spaces.
There are seven compared to 484 at North Beach, three compared to 98 on the Crown Pier, and four compared to 156 on the Albert Pier.
E&I said it would like to do more to provide accessible parking spaces, but it needs to consider “location, eligibility, enforcement, and the effect on overall parking capacity” before making any changes.
“The committee considers that this issue is best considered as part of wider strategic work on parking and transport, rather than as a stand-alone change to a small number of bays,” it said.
“That approach allows any future changes to be supported by evidence, a clear policy rationale and the appropriate operational or legal process where required.”
