The owner of a popular Nottingham garden centre wants to expand its car park to host an extra 39 vehicles.
Brookfields Garden Centre, in Mapperley Plains, currently has 232 parking spaces on its site – 219 standard, and 13 accessible spaces.
But plans submitted to Gedling Borough Council suggest that a rework of the layout could bump up the total to 271 – despite a planned reduction in standard vehicle spots.
Owner Gerald Ingram wants to increase the number of accessible parking spaces and install electric vehicle charging points, bringing the total of those two types combined to 56, while the number of standard parking spots would drop by four to 215.
The car parking facilities are currently split into three, with 33 spaces to the right when driving in from Mapperley Plains, 65 on the left and 134 slightly further north into the site.
There is also an overflow car park on the grassed woodland area to the west of the garden centre building, which, as part of the plans, will benefit from the installation of a new 77m² pond.
The new spaces will mainly come from the reconfiguration of the northern car park, the current spaces on which are primarily made of gravel.
Work will involve tarmac being laid in place of the gravel and lines repainted more economically to make better use of the space available, with parking spots arranged perpendicular to how they are currently.
Two new entrances are proposed as part of the plans – one further up Mapperley Plains to the north and one solely for storage access to behind the garden centre.
Brookfields has been family-owned since it began and has grown over the years, recently becoming part of the “Planters” chain of garden centres.
Documents submitted as part of the planning application says that the site “continues to expand and adapt to meet the ever-changing requirements of the business”.
Gedling Borough Council will decide on whether to allow the new car park go ahead at a later date.
