Council says BAE rejected ‘very reasonable’ offer over Barrow car park
Talks between Westmorland and Furness Council and BAE Systems over the future of the Waterfront car park have broken down
The council’s finance chief has said it was ‘very disappointing’ when BAE did not renew a car park contract after a ‘very reasonable offer’.
In May negotiations broke down between the defence firm and Westmorland and Furness Council regarding the almost 750 space Waterfront car park on Barrow Island.
The facility was built to house the vehicles of BAE staff who work in the area but closed earlier this year due to the negotiation issue.
Over four months on, Councillor David Cassidy of Barrow Island, Labour, asked Westmorland and Furness Council where it was with negotiations and why ward councillors have not been kept updated.
Cllr Cassidy said: “The announcement came out at a previous full council in May at 7.45pm, so I wanted to ask today: was Councillor Jarvis, as portfolio holder, aware of this closure on the day or prior to the May full council.
“If so, why weren’t we told as ward members, given that Councillor Burns and myself worked for three years to get an effective Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) in place, which is coming into effect on October 1.
“Finally, where are we with these negotiations with BAE and why are we not being kept updated?”
The TRO in question was aimed at tackling parking issues on Barrow Island, where residents said they could not get spaces due to BAE workers allegedly parking their vehicles in them.
Cllr Jarvis said: “There are commercial discussions between ourselves and BAE, they are commercially private and sensitive, obviously we cannot give updates on those.
“In the case of the car park closure, discussions and negotiations went on until the last minute.”
He said the council was hopeful BAE would accept its ‘very sensible offer’.
Cllr Jarvis added: “I have to say, just this week talking to a local resident who works for BAE, they complained it is costing them £3 a day to park in a car park. The amount requested from BAE was a small fraction of that.
“We have to look after the assets of this council, it is our duty, and that includes commercial negotiations.”
He called it ‘very disappointing’ that BAE were ‘not able to accept a very reasonable offer’.