Bourne Car Park, Virginia Water

Commissioned by Somerston Capital, Paul Basham Associates aided the landowner of the Bourne Car Park by providing highway advice to justify the loss of this large car park in the centre of Virginia Water, Surrey for redevelopment

With our initial involvement on the site on behalf of McCarthy & Stone (who sought to redevelop the site), Paul Basham Associates were approached by the landowner to provide advice to further support the case to remove a large car park adjacent to Virginia Water railway station. The 152 space car park was considered underused, and was therefore seen as the ideal place by both the landowner and the retirement housebuilder to provide much needed ‘Assisted Living’ care.

With detailed liaison with all parties throughout this project, we undertook a number of parking studies using the ‘Lambeth’ methodology. This included snapshot studies as well as surveys undertaken in three-hourly blocks across a number of days (weekday and weekend).

Our team then provided a number of Technical Notes to support the case which included the parking survey results as well as photographic evidence. Drawings were also prepared to highlight alternative parking opportunities for the displaced demand

Ultimately, Paul Basham Associates concluded that demand for the car park was not high enough to justify the retention of the car park and the demand could be adequately accommodated in alternative locations in the vicinity, providing a positive result for the landowner, client and McCarthy & Stone.