An all-year off-beach car park and better toilet facilities at Ainsdale Beach in Southport could open in time for the busy tourist season next year.
The near £1 million plans for ‘Ainsdale Gateway’ would include a 249-space car park facility accessed via the Promenade.
It would provide a cheaper option for parking during the summer months, with solar powered pay and display machines allowing payment for shorter stays and a cheaper day rate than parking on the beach.
It would also provide parking during the winter months.
The proposals would cost £952,000 and have been backed by Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member Health and Wellbeing Cllr Ian Moncur.
The higher quality toilet and wash facilities would include an accessible Changing Places facility.
It would also include new infrastructure to guide and manage visitors as well as protecting the sensitive habitats in the area.
Sefton Council owns assets in the area including Toad Hall, which now boasts one of the UK’s largest murals, in the form of a sand lizard by Paul Curtis Artwork.
Earlier this year the local authority invited businesses to submit redevelopment proposals for the former Sands pub in Ainsdale. Any scheme will have to be “appropriate for this leisure, visitor and tourist location”, and could include the boating lake and land nearby.
In a report to councillors, Sefton Council Assistant Director of People (Operational In House Services) Michelle Williams said: “The proposals for car parking are to create a 249-space facility accessed via the Promenade.
“This will provide visitors with a cheaper option for parking during the summer months with solar powered pay and display machines allowing payment for shorter stays, and a cheaper day rate than parking on the beach in any event, and for more formalised parking in the winter months.
“It will include disabled parking spaces and EV charging points. New bike storage facilities and improved pedestrian routes will also be provided.
“The car park will be operated by the Council’s Parking Services Team. It is separated from the beach by the sand dune system and is located immediately adjacent, but just outside, of the SSSI boundary.
“The site of the improved car parking includes land already being used for car parking next to the Discovery Centre, a fenced storage compound and a grassed area (formerly a caravan site, now used as an informal overflow parking area on busy days).
“The car park will be open all year round and will contain three solar powered pay and display machines.
“It will provide extra parking spaces year round, but most importantly for visitors during peak periods. Additionally the car park will provide alternative parking during times when the beach parking is either not operational, or limited due to the time of year (on-beach car parking is closed – 1 st October to 31st March, in poor weather, or during high tides).
“Site improvements include new disabled parking spaces, motorcycle parking, active travel improvements for pedestrians and cyclists, improved footways, covered bike storage for 28 bikes, and EV charging points. The initial recommendation for EV charging points would be for 4 spaces.”
Traffic calming speed bumps, vehicle access barriers, new litter bins, and pedestrian barriers along most of the car park boundary would also be installed.
Extended traffic restriction yellow lines along the length of the Promenade and Shore Road will help maintain traffic flow to the car park. Improved pedestrian and traffic signage will also be installed.
The area next to Green Sefton’s existing base at the Ainsdale Discovery Centre will be reconfigured to create a new wider access to the existing staff car parking area. The existing cattle access area onto the SSSI, used seasonally in winter to support the grazing of rare breed cattle on the dunes system, will also be improved.
A complementary scheme will comprise some resurfacing on the roundabout junction of Shore Road with the Coastal Road. Further measures will include a modification to the geometry, aimed at reducing vehicle speeds, and improving crossing facilities for pedestrians and cyclists using the Coastal Road cycle path.
The planning application for the car park has been submitted, and it is anticipated that a decision will be given in Winter 2022.
In her report, Michelle Williams said: “It is hoped at this stage, subject to Planning Permission being gained, and the tender processes completed, the new facilities will open for the tourist peak season of 2023.”
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