Parkings on the mark in Rochdale

Chief Superintendent, John O'Hare for Rochdale Division and Impact Partnership’s Highways Policy & Strategy Manager Tim Wood, at Upper Broadfield Car Park, Church Lane in Rochdale

Four car parks in Rochdale have just been awarded the ParkMark® Safer Parking Award.

Presented by GMP, Chief Superintendent O’Hare to Tim Wood, Highways Policy & Strategy Manager at Impact Partnership, who manage the car parks. The awards are received following thorough assessment by Police to ensure the car parks are of a high standard in relation to cleanliness, signage, surveillance and lighting.

The ParkMark® award reassures customers that measures have been put in place to deter criminal activity and anti-social behaviour, thereby doing everything to prevent crime and reduce the fear of crime in car parks.

The four car parks that have achieved the ParkMark® Safer Parking Award are:

• Church Lane, Rochdale - which attracted over 7,500 visitors last year
• Lower Broadfield on King Street and Upper Broadfield on Church Lane, Rochdale - which attracted over 54,000 visitors last year
• Lake Bank, Hollingworth Lake, Littleborough – which attracted over 90,000 visitors last year
• Archer car park in Middleton
• Bus station multi-storey car park in the centre of Rochdale have also been successful in having their ParkMark® status renewed for the third year running

Chief Superintendent, John O'Hare for Rochdale Division, said: "The Park Mark accreditation is significant as it shows our communities that they can shop local and visit the borough's attractions without fear of crime. We hope that by issuing this more people will shop in Rochdale and continue to support their local economy."

Tim Wood, Impact’s Highways Policy & Strategy Manager said: “Receiving these latest ParkMark® Awards demonstrates to our customers our commitment to creating a high quality parking facility that feels safe and has measures in place to reduce levels of crime. It is our aim to achieve the award for more of our car parks in the future”.

ParkMark®, the safer parking award is an initiative of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) designed to reduce criminal behaviour within the parking environment. The scheme is managed by the British Parking Association and is supported by the Home Office and all the Police Forces in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.