The original plans only allowed for twenty-eight additional parking spaces, but it soon became clear that nineteen of those spaces would be lost due to the expansion of the Maternity Wing into the patient car park. The two hundred additional spaces will be built on the disused land at the side of the hospital that has lain derelict for at least a decade - an area both Theresa and Barnet Council have campaigned for the hospital to make use of.
Theresa said, “I really welcome the news that two hundred extra spaces are set to be created at Barnet Hospital. It is a big improvement on the original proposals and I’m very pleased that Barnet Hospital is at long last going to make use of the neighbouring unused land. This was what I appealed to them to do when their original plans were published.”
“The additional spaces will certainly help to mitigate Barnet’s current parking problems and facilitate the extra numbers from Enfield. However, it’s difficult to say if the additional spaces will be enough given that Barnet Hospital is yet to confirm exactly how many extra patients, staff and visitors they are expecting from Chase Farm.”
“I will be keeping up the pressure to ensure that Barnet Hospital delivers these extra spaces and is ready to deal with the extra influx of patients well before the transfer of services takes place.”A public consultation on the additional car parking spaces is currently being carried out by Barnet Council and is open for comments until 24th August 2012. A final decision is expected in early September.