MOTORISTS in York are set to lose more than 1,000 parking spaces through a spate of car park closures.

Evening Press inquiries have confirmed that up to eight city centre locations may eventually be hit by York's disappearing car park syndrome.

More than 240 spaces have already been lost from Union Terrace car park, and 40 from Esplanade.

But in the next 18 months:

- Another 255 are likely to go through the redevelopment of Tanner Row multi-storey car park as a hotel

- 170 are set to be lost through the redevelopment of the NCP car park in Skeldergate as flats

- 400 may be lost through the development of flats on Heworth Green former gasworks site

- 110 will eventually go through the planned closure of Haymarket car park in Hungate

- 76 will be lost at some stage through the planned closure of Peel Street car park, off Walmgate.

Another 390 spaces are in doubt at the Kent Street car park, because the site is part of the Barbican Centre redevelopment brief.

Details of the four bids have not been officially released, but it is known that one of the prospective developers intends keeping the car park primarily to serve conference, exhibition and swimming pool visitors. It is understood that the other schemes also involve retention of some parking, but primarily to serve the Barbican.

The Castle Car Park will also close if the Coppergate Riverside proposals get the go-ahead, but the 320 lost places there would be compensated by a new multi-storey in Piccadilly.

City of York Council said today the closures were planned, and formed part of a deliberate strategy to reduce congestion - in line with residents' concerns about such congestion.

"It's not happening willy-nilly," said Bill Woolley, assistant director development and transport. He said pressure was being applied to reduce long-stay parking and persuade motorists to use York's rapidly expanding Park & Ride facilities.

He stressed that short-stay parking for shoppers was not being cut.

Mr Woolley said York's car parks had surplus capacity on all but a handful of days throughout the year, and planned new electronic variable message signs would prevent motorists driving around looking for parking spaces and increasing congestion.

The signs would say which car parks were full and how many spaces were available at the others.

Gillian Cruddas, Chief Executive of York Tourism Bureau, said she would be concerned if long-stay visitors were discouraged from coming to York, because "the longer people stay, the more they spend".

She said she was already concerned about the capacity of the Park & Ride buses to deal with demand. "We are already getting complaints from people having to wait 35 minutes to get a Park & Ride bus from outside the Marks & Spencer store in Piccadilly. That defeats the object."

She added that another problem concerned some of the new city centre hotels in York which were being built without sufficient parking spaces to cater for visitors.

Guests might be able to use existing city centre car parks, such as the NCP in Skeldergate, but this might become impossible if such car parks closed down, and she was worried hotels might lose business.

Adam Sinclair, chairman of York Chamber of Trade, said: "The chamber is deeply concerned about the significant and further loss of car parking spaces in the city."

He attacked the council's different approach to the closure of Castle Car Park - where there would be compensatory car parking built in Piccadilly - with the others, where there would be none. He said this was unfair on businesses in the rest of the city centre away from Coppergate.

Updated: 11:03 Tuesday, May 21, 2002