22 July 2026
I live 5 miles from Buxton and visit four times a week for shopping and to use local amenities (the pool and library). My primary concern is the loss of car parking spaces. Yesterday I failed to find a car parking space at the Pavillion Gardens car park and the schools haven't even broken up yet for the summer holidays. The influx of tourists during the holidays and on fair weather summer days throughout June and July means the current number of parking spaces is insufficient. If the new development plans are trying to encourage even more visitors to Buxton centre then it will just get worse and possibly damage tourist trade. I think Waitrose will suffer with the car park reduction as most people don't want to carry shopping to a car park as far away as behind the railway station when the proposed, small on site car park is full. It's not practical, especially for people with mobility problems or other health issues. It would be awful if Waitrose lost revenue as a result and had to close. We have already lost Marks and Spencer and so many other shops. I struggle to see how you would fill these new retail spaces when the worsening parking situation will put people off visiting the centre and we can't fill the empty shops as it is at the moment. The disruption to the town during years of development work will be so damaging to the local economy, you might just kill off what little trade the high street has now. Aesthetically the building design looks like Milton Keynes and not at all sympathetic to the rest of Buxton.