New Stratford Car Park Opens at the Old Safeway Site

A new car park has started opening in Stratford-upon-Avon town centre, in the old Safeway service yard off Mansell Street, at £1 an hour or £7 for 24 hours. Nine outdoor spaces are open now, rising to 14 by the end of November, and the owners aim to have 30 open, including 16 covered spaces, before Windsor Street car park closes for demolition. They got in touch after reading our story on the Windsor Street demolition.

Where it is and what it costs

The car park is at 40 Mansell Street (CV37 6NR), with its entrance on Mansell Street behind the shops at 12 Greenhill Street. The ramp beside it goes up to a separate car park on the roof of the Orbit offices, so don’t follow that. It’s on our parking map.

• Prices: £1 an hour for up to five hours, or £7 for a full 24 hours.
• Opening hours: 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
• Paying: on your phone through Parkso (parkso.com/mansell, or just parkso.com), entering your registration; there’s no app to download, and there are payment instructions on signs in the car park. Spaces can’t be reserved.
• Height limit: none on the outdoor spaces. The covered spaces may have a limit of about 3.5m, still to be confirmed, which would still fit a high-roof van.
• Blue Badge and EV charging: no spaces for either at the moment.

For a full day that’s about half what the council’s town car parks charge for 24 hours (£13.90) and less than half NCP Rother Street’s £15. For shorter stays, the council charges £1.40 for an hour and NCP £3, though the council’s flat £3.50 evening rate (4pm to 8am) is cheaper if you’re parking for the evening. The approved plans show number plate cameras, so pay as the signs direct: private car parks can send a parking charge by post. Here’s how to appeal a parking charge.

From supermarket yard to covered parking

The district council granted planning permission (25/02495/FUL) on 11 August for 16 spaces in the covered undercroft and old storerooms behind the Greenhill Street shops, which the application says have been unused for about 12 years. The open yard in front, which served Safeway when the Orbit offices next door were a supermarket, already had parking. The owners plan 14 spaces outside and 16 under cover.

What neighbours said

Nine letters of objection raised 24-hour use, noise from cars and doors, privacy, air pollution, congestion and anti-social behaviour at night. County highways didn’t object once one space was removed to make turning easier, the Town Council made no representations provided neighbours weren’t harmed, and environmental health didn’t object, subject to conditions. The planning officer accepted that parking and turning “may be somewhat tight”, but pointed to the site’s past as a service yard and its small size. The permission limits noise from the ventilation fans and needs council approval for any outside lighting; it doesn’t set opening hours.

How it compares with Windsor Street

The council plans to replace the 243-space Windsor Street multi-storey, a short walk away, with a temporary surface car park of about 90 spaces. That’s about 150 fewer, so 30 new spaces would cover about a fifth of the gap. For other options, see where to park instead of Windsor Street and our Stratford parking guide.

Alex Harrington

Alex Harrington grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon and runs What's up, Stratford? as an independent guide to the town.