Smelly Exeter car park makeover postponed

Plans to restore an Exeter car park that looks like a ‘dystopian film set’ and smells of urine have been put on hold.

The city council wants to borrow £2.5m to restore the Cathedral and Quay multi-storey car park that has been vandalised and daubed with graffiti in a wave of ‘sustained’ anti-social behaviour.
It has become a hotspot for rough sleeping, drug use and bonfires.
It also wants to hand the management of the car park to a private company, which it says will improve security and generate income.
Cllr Ruth Williams (Lab, Mincinglake and Whipton) told colleagues: “It is not worthy of our beautiful city. It’s dark, it’s dingy, it doesn’t feel safe and it smells of urine.
“This is not the experience we want for our visitors.”
Cllr Adrian Fullam (Lib Dem, St Thomas) went on: “It is like a dystopian film set on the upper floors. This is a chance to transform a part of the city we are embarrassed by into something we can be proud of.”
But councillors said they were concerned about the consequences of the proposal to out-source the management of the car park to a private company. Some said they feared it would mark the beginning of a trend to privatise more of the city’s car parks.
And they were concerned about how a private company would look after the pay and conditions of the council’s existing car park staff.
The top two and a half decks of the car park have been closed since 2020 amid concerns over structural issues 
A report to the council said out-sourcing the management would mean it could be re-established as a premier multi-storey car park for the city. CCTV and ‘passive surveillance’ from car park users would curb anti-social behaviour 
It said: “The closure of these decks, together with the lack of suitable management/security measures and lower levels of passive surveillance, has led to a sustained campaign of opportunistic anti-social behaviour against Cathedral and Quay.”
Councillors heard that all decisions on the running of the car park would still be made by the council, and all income would be retained.
They agreed that action was needed. Cllr Diana Moore (Green, St Davids) said: “The anti-social behaviour from this car park has been a complete blight on the lives of residents living nearby. This behaviour happens in it, on it and around the back of it.”
But, she said, she had concerns over out-sourcing the management.
“If we have money to pay the profit of a contractor, maybe the surplus could be reinvested back into our teams,” she added.
And Cllr Kevin Mitchell (Lib Dem, Duryard and St James) said he could not support the outsourcing. “I haven’t heard an answer as to why we can’t provide this service ourselves,” he said.
Council leader Phil Bialyk (Lab, Exwick) took the issue off the table and said he would report back to a later meeting with more details of how the outsourcing could be managed and monitored.