"Poor parking"

Can I firstly apologise if you found it difficult to locate available parking during your recent visit to our Leighton Hospital site. I can assure you that the Trust’s Security team is dedicated in its approach to pro-active car park management and any resulting issues are raised with the team to help ensure we are offering the best possible service to our patients, employees and visitors. In relation to the revenue received from the car parks, I can assure you this is spent on improving vital services and facilities. Income generated from car parking charges also funds the provision, maintenance and security of our car parks - making grounds improvements, such as resurfacing, external lighting, pedestrian walkways and security barriers and improving the overall experience of visiting our hospitals. It also funds the provision of security staff and CCTV cameras, enabling the Trust to safeguard our staff, visitors and their cars. Without this income, we would have to fund the car parking facilities out of our general budget. The extra revenue means we have more money to spend on patient services. Any additional income generated from car parking charges is put into patient services to improve the care and treatments we provide at our hospitals. In terms of car parking expansion, the local council transport / travel policy directly affects the opportunities from a planning perspective to expand not only our buildings and services, but our car parking also. In 2001, the government introduced Planning Policy Guidance Note 13 (PPG13 Paragraph 87 – 91) which requested that all local councils instruct sites to submit a travel plan alongside any planning applications which are likely to have transport implications. In summary, improving the availability of spaces by reducing the vehicles attending the site and I can assure you the Trust is dedicated in working with the council in maintaining access to the site and providing the appropriate car parking for all of the Trust’s patients and visitors now and in the future. James Whittall, Security / Green Travel Development Co-ordinator