Leicester's NCP Car Parks Shut Down, City Scrambles for Solutions

0:00It's March 29th. Welcome to Lester News today, powered by AI. I'm Corey with the story. Four NCP car parks in Lester City Center shut down for good on Friday after the company went into administration. These spots at Lee Circle, Rutland Street, Abbey Street and East Street had 2,400 parking spaces combined, leaving drivers, scrambling for options. NCP doesn't own the sites. They belong to other groups stuck holding the bag. Usage was super low, under 25% across all four, which explains why they couldn't turn a profit. City leaders have started early talks about possibly stepping in, but no firm plans yet. Green Party Counselor Patrick Kitterick is pushing hard for the council to reopen key ones like Rutland Center and East Street, calling it A. Cliff Edge Crisis for the Cultural Quarter. Businesses near-curve theater and workers with contract spots are feeling the pinch, especially short-term. Labor mayor Sir Peter Solzby gets the concern, but

1:00says the city has plenty of backups, over 10,000 spaces total, and multi-stories, high-cross, and streets. The council's monitoring traffic and has contingency plans of queues build up. Nationwide, this is one of 22 NCP closures, with 33 jobs lost here, though most sites stay open. Expect more chatter at council meetings as they way of taking over makes sense for the long haul.