North Coast needs 700 additional parking spaces

TRAFFIC experts say over 700 additional parking spaces are needed on the North Coast in the summer months.

Details of “a mismatch between parking demand and parking supply during the tourist season” were discussed during a meeting of a working group set up to steer the council’s Connected Causeway Project.

Set up under Causeway Coast and Glens Growth Deal, the £7m project proposes creating a network of park-and-ride hubs as the solution to mounting traffic congestion at visitor hotspots.

Minutes of the working group are included in documents accompanying a commercial planning application for a park and ride scheme near Bushmills.

“It was noted that the visitor experience on the Causeway Coast was not meeting expectations, with issues with traffic and pedestrian congestion and a lack of parking infrastructure at key tourism locations (Bushmills. Ballycastle, Portrush, Portstewart),” the minutes record.

Read the full story in this week's Chronicle.