Houses planned for Buxton's Market Street car park

The two-acre site is being marketed for sale, with the possibility of building houses on the land, which currently has 86 car parking spaces.

The proposed sale will enable redevelopment of the area to take place but any prospective purchaser will now need to detail their proposals as part of the bidding process, the council said.

High Peak Borough Council Leader, Councillor Anthony Mckeown, said: “The sale of this land will enable the much needed regeneration and redevelopment of this area to take place as set out in the Local Plan.

“However, we understand this is an important site and any redevelopment must be suitable for the area which is why any prospective purchaser must detail their plans.

“Once we have some potential schemes we will be able to seek the views of the action group and others before making a final decision.”

The site does include the existing car park to allow potential buyers to maximise this opportunity to offer the best quality development and improve the layout within the available space, the council said.

Councillor Mckeown added: “I want to reassure everyone this does not mean the loss of the existing car parking. We will require the existing car parking spaces to be replaced on the site as part of the development process in addition to any requirements of the development itself.

“Until we have a developer in place, we won’t know exactly where it will go or how long work will take. However, we will work with them to minimise disruption and keep the length of time that car parking is not available as short as possible.”

The Advertiser has approached the council for further clarification on what this will mean for the town’s annual fair, with the car park usually being used to house the living accommodation of those from the fair.

A council spokesperson said: “As we have already said the parking spaces will be reinstated for use in the town but the discussion of where the fair people will sleep will be between the fair and the new developer of the site.”

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