A plan to add premium parking to the Trafford Centre to appeal to the shoppers at Selfridges is up for consideration by Trafford Council.

The applicant, The Trafford Centre Ltd, applied for planning permission for one of almost 20 car parks at the shopping centre last month.

Leigh Journal: A map of the Peel 5 car park

The plan to add premium parking at the Trafford Centre affects an area of the Peel 5 car park accessible from the Peel Circle roundabout.

It is next to Selfridges with the application for planning permission suggesting the aim is to appeal to the shoppers at the designer department store of which there are only four stores in the UK.

Leigh Journal: A map of the Peel 5 car park

The application said: "Selfridges have four stores in the UK with two being in Greater Manchester and Trafford Centre being the only out-of-town shopping centre to accommodate a Selfridges.

"Selfridges are the premium UK department store and their presence at Trafford Centre is crucial in supporting the high quality of occupiers it offers. Providing the premium parking to meet the expectations of Selfridges and other premium shoppers is therefore an important part of the centre's success."

Leigh Journal: A map of the Peel 5 car park

The affected area of the Peel 5 car park is on its Upper Level which, if planning permission is approved by the council, would be separated from the rest of the Upper Level by Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) barriers. 

It would be slashed from around 250 parking spaces to around 200 parking spaces to allow for bigger bays, three metres wide instead of two and a half metres wide, as well as other additions such as a kiosk and EV charging points.

The premium parking service would be open in line with the opening hours of the free-to-use parking service at the Trafford Centre as a whole and the premium parking service would be pre-bookable on the Trafford Centre website.

A consultation is open on the Trafford Council planning portal and the deadline for a decision by Trafford Council is next month.


This article was written by Jack Tooth. To contact him, email jack.tooth@newsquest.co.uk or follow @JTRTooth on Twitter.