A VACANT school site could be the solution to escalating parking issues and traffic problems in Northallerton, councillors have been told.

Town councillors added their voice to concern over car parking issues after revelations by North Yorkshire police that they are looking for space potentially for hundreds of staff when they move their headquarters to the centre of town into what was Rural Payments Agency building.

On-site parking is to be restricted to operational vehicles and senior officers. Sgt Simon Wilson told Northallerton Town Council a special working group was being set up to look at concerns over potential issues.

Cllr Paul Atkin said a solution to the problem would be using part of the Allertonshire school site, which is being vacated by Northallerton College from September.

The school, which has two sites on both sides of one of the main roads into town, used to house pupils aged from 11 to 14, but no longer needs the space, and will only use the site for Year 7 students who are starting secondary school.

Cllr Atkin told members of the town council: ”This is a massive site on the east side of the Allertonshire. It is going to be mothballed for five years and then sold.

“You could charge £2 a day, turning it into a car park, you win all round, and they could probably run a mini bus into town as a park and ride. The building is going to have to be demolished anyway, there’s a solution, and it would be North Yorkshire County Council’s.”

Cllr John Prest added :”There were problems when it was the RPA with cars parking all over the place. It is not rocket science, the police knew they are going to have all these staff, so there is going to be a shortage of car parking spaces. You would have expected a full report to go to the county council rather than dropping it on us at the last minute.”

Cllr Preston Forster said there were already wider parking problems in the town. “That isn’t the only situation with traffic problems at the hospital. Staff seem to be parking on Valley Road, Bullamoor Road and on the memorial park, at the end of the day, this is just going to compound it.

The town council is to ask for representation on the police working group and to be involved on discussions with the college over the Allertonshire site.