A CONCEPT suggesting that three town centre car parks could site new homes has sparked debate among neighbourhood plan organisers.

Committee members heard on Tuesday an idea to build up to 100 new homes across the King Street, Princess Street and Tatton Street public car parks, while increasing the number of public spaces by 39.

Urban designer and Knutsford resident Ken Brodie’s presentation explained how development would fund the provision of ‘expensive’ new structured parking.

By cutting into inclines and building new frontages – as well as a feature walkway between the Moor and the Gaskell tower – the concept would also improve the image of the town centre while preserving the countryside.

Mr Brodie said: “I’m a firm believer that one house built in the town is one less in the countryside. I think there are options to build in town before greenbelt sites. Car parks degrade the historic townscape. This may not be a popular view, but I think they present a poor image of the town to visitors. They come to see the town of Gaskell and are presented with surface car parks and that’s not the best first impression.”

While Mr Brodie brought the idea for feedback and discussion alone, his idea presented drastic potential changes to the Cheshire East Council-owned car parks and their surrounding areas.

Princess Street car park would retain all of its spaces on a ground floor level, while adding a block of 24 flats above it and private parking in a basement below.

Tatton Street would benefit from 20 new public parking spaces, as well as 33 homes and 200sq m of office or retail space. Between King Street and the Moor, 30 homes would be built over three floors, with 19 new public parking spaces alongside new private spaces.

The development would cut into the sharp incline, and facilitate a direct physical and aesthetic path between the Moor and the tower, which Mr Brodie said was ‘iconic’ and should be ‘celebrated’. Development would not exceed surrounding rooftop heights, but would be on top of Knutsford’s 950 homes allocated in the local plan.

Mr Brodie said: “Quite a lot of development is necessary to make this pay for itself. Any kind of structured parking is expensive. The scale of development could be reduced or parking increased, but would need some other money.

“There is a need for this kind of strategy – maybe this is a non-starter but we should be putting ideas out there for debate. We need to look ahead to avoid piecemeal development.”

The proposals were met with strong views on both sides, as committee members debated benefits of additional spaces and screening against disruption to the town. during and after construction.

The presentation was part of a Neighbourhood Plan committee meeting, where steering group chairmen shared updates. Representatives of town planners Urban Imprint, whom the town council have paid to oversee the construction of the plan, failed to attend.