Better travel plans should be put in place for large Nottinghamshire events like this weekend’s Take That concert to avoid “choas” on roads, a local councillor says.
Around 28,000 fans will see Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald take to the stage at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground on at two gigs this Saturday and Sunday.
Temporary road closures and parking restrictions will be in place to handle the large numbers of people.
However, Councillor Penny Gowland (Lab), who represents West Bridgford, where the venue is located, has warned it will bring “chaos” for both residents and those travelling to the city.
“One of the ways to really annoy visitors is if they can’t park. I see people driving round and round looking for spaces near the City Ground, getting more annoyed as they’re late for the match,” she said.
“Surely one of the things the county council can do is improve transport. Why aren’t we asking the venues to include travel passes in the tickets for large events?
“People coming could have free, local travel. Even if only five per cent of people use it, it would massively alleviate the problems here.”
The warning came during a discussion of Nottinghamshire County Council’s tourism plan at the place committee on Wednesday (May 22).
Jo Davies, Group Manager for Growth, Infrastructure & Development said: “We recognise having a large influx of visitors into a small space can have unintended consequences.
“We have set up a cross-council group working on these problems to make sure we’re better linking in with public transport and visiting doesn’t rely so much on private car parks.”
She added the council’s plan hoped to entice people to stay longer, turning daytrips into longer breaks.
“It’s brilliant we get all these visitors, but if they park up and go again, it’s a missed opportunity,” she said.
Councillor Sue Saddington (Con) suggested that services which allow residents to rent out their driveways out to visitors could alleviate parking problems in future.
