Call for action after Stafford retail site’s car park floods again

Photos of the car park at Kingsmead Retail Park show that nearly half the car park is under water due to flooding, with a number of cars seen stranded in the middle of the water. The car park is on the outskirts of Stafford town centre, next to the A34, and stands on the banks of the Kingsmead Marsh and Pearl Brook, which runs alongside the road. It is home to a number of retailers, including Aldi, Just for Pets and B&M, and also has a large McDonald's on the site, up to which the floodwater has run into its car park and the mini-roundabout opposite.

This aerial shot shows the level of flooding on the car park

Yunus Patel has been a regular user of the car park and said he had noticed how it was continually getting flooded over the last few months.

He said he had been trying to get the attention of the car park owners, but with no success. "Just over that time, it's been completely flooded up to about 50 per cent of the car park and I've been having to drive through the water on the occasions I've been there," he said. "I also saw a car being pulled out of the water by a tow truck and I'm just confused as to why the car park is still open, so I've written to Euro Car Parks, but nothing seems to have been done about it.

A large part of the car park is underwater

"I think the car park should be closed until they can fix the problem as it's a risk to cars and it could get worse and flood more, and I have an electric car and I'm worried about damaging my car."

The car park is set within the Forebridge ward of Stafford and the councillor for the area, Julian Thorley, said that while it was a newer car park, it was set alongside some old marshland and said work needed to be done to measure the water levels.

A car is given a tow out of the flood water

Councillor Thorley said: "I think global warming is one of the big contributors to this problem, due to the excess rain we seem to be getting. "The car park is fairly new, but it's built next to old marshland, and what you've got in Stafford is that just off the town centre you're running into marshland and this is where Stafford grew up. "The marshland along to the river was the town's only defence from invader, and the Queensway was built on that marshland, so what we need to do is start measuring the water levels as they are starting to get higher, and I fear they'll get higher, so we need to start a campaign now."

George Chrisostomou has been working on a site nearby, redeveloping the Theatre Bar into flats and houses, and said he had noticed the site had been flooding ever since he had got to Stafford.

Local developer George Chrisostomou stands in the flood water

He said: "As soon as we get a bit of rain, it gets flooded and as a developer, I can't believe that who built that car park has allowed this to happen, and someone should be held accountable for it. "I think it's ridiculous that a development like that, of that calibre, ends up like that and it's terrible because it's [the water] halfway up the car park and no-one can use it. "Something needs to be done as it's not going to get better and I think it's going to get worse."

Euro Car Parks, Savills, B&M, Aldi, Just for Pets and McDonald's have all been contacted for comment.