Does anybody have experience of running a car park?

[ThisInJapanese]

Not a huge amount to add beyond the title! I've got my eye on a piece of land that I think would serve as a good car park, and I'm in the process of pulling everything together. So if anybody has any real world experience, I'm all ears!

It'll be a small place, maybe about 40-50 cars.

[Ussrcossack]

What do you know already?

From my point of view

How much is the carpark and what churn does it have each day , what will your return be

Competition, I know a multistorey that was taken over and it's now £1.50 per day every day, this is in a large northern city

Payment methods
Enforcement - how will you achieve
Lighting
Height barrier to prevent unwelcome long stay visitors with holiday homes on wheels, other long term stayers may also exist
maintenance
vandalism
sign with rules and regs

HTH

[ARHarh]

Is it already a car park? If not surely there will be planning issues.

[Ham_and_Jam]

A Euro car park in the centre of town near me was forced by the council to raise its prices as part of its license agreement.

The council argued it was undercutting its own car parks. Even on appeal, Euro car parks lost.

Something to bear in mind if you think you have a business plan / pricing policy of being a cheaper option than the incumbent council operators

[ThisInJapanese]

ARHarh said:

Is it already a car park? If not surely there will be planning issues.

No. It's a disused field. I've emailed the planning office to understand what's needed and I'm going to speak to my local councillor as the lack of parking is quite a hot topic

[ThisInJapanese]

Ussrcossack said:

What do you know already?

From my point of view

How much is the carpark and what churn does it have each day , what will your return be

Competition, I know a multistorey that was taken over and it's now £1.50 per day every day, this is in a large northern city

Payment methods
Enforcement - how will you achieve
Lighting
Height barrier to prevent unwelcome long stay visitors with holiday homes on wheels, other long term stayers may also exist
maintenance
vandalism
sign with rules and regs

HTH

All useful thank you. I have zero experience at the moment, but always happy to learn and research. The list will be a useful point to start putting the initial budget together.

[AndyAudi]

ThisInJapanese said:

It's a disused field.

I’d possibly prepare for them to have some reasonable environmental considerations here. Contaminants leaching into soil / water courses etc

[hidetheelephants]

A field's no use for a car park; at a minimum it will need the top soil removing and a layer of aggregate laid down on fabric, but if pollution/drainage control is required(the size seems at the point of requiring a proper SuDS) then you're into tarmac/paving etc.

[ThisInJapanese]

hidetheelephants said:

A field's no use for a car park; at a minimum it will need the top soil removing and a layer of aggregate laid down on fabric, but if pollution/drainage control is required(the size seems at the point of requiring a proper SuDS) then you're into tarmac/paving etc.

I am fully expecting for it to need aggregate at least. Can you tell beforehand if pollution and drainage control is needed or does that happen during planning?