Concern over Ipswich car park war as Q-park take over sites

Councillor David Plowman who represents the town centre at Ipswich Borough Council said that "we don't want companies to compete with each other" and push up prices after it was announced that Q-park would take over Tacket Street and Tower Ramparts car parking sites.

From Saturday, August 1, the two car parks in the town centre have transferred to Q-park after National Car Parks (NCP) fell into administration.

The NCP branding from the Tacket Street car park has been removed (Image: Oli Picton)

The company operates more than 5,500 car parks across Europe, with the closest car park located in Norwich at Chantry Place shopping centre.

But with another new operator in the town, there is concern that prices could rise across the town as different companies try to compete with each other.

Green party councillor David Plowman said: "What we don't want to see in Ipswich town centre is a car park war with car parks in the town competing with each other, that will only push prices up which has happened in the past.

Councillor David Plowman has stated action will be taken by the council (Image: David Plowman)

Tower Ramparts Car Park in Ipswich (Image: Newsquest)

"The Tower Ramparts car park has historically had very reasonable prices, is in a good location and has been well maintained for main years so hopefully that will continue into the future, and the operators keep prices low.

"Regarding the car park at Tacket Street, with any luck they will continue to have a good relationship with local businesses such as the Ipswich Mart and the nearby Car Wash, but in the past it has not been a place which has been well-maintained.

"Effectively it a piece of waste land and with the future of town centre's being needed for living space, I would ideally like to the see the over-reliance on cars faded out in favour of better public transport and cycle routes with land like this used for social housing."