International Scenes And Affairs

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 29, 4 February 1939, Page 23

International Scenes And Affairs

BENEATH LONDON,

AIR RAID SHELTERS. CAR PABKS EST PEACE TIIIE. LONDON, tinder the public squares of London ■in a few years may be. hidden structures of steel and concrete which in time of peace would be enr parking- areas and, in war, air raid strongholds.

• Plans have been prepared by a group of architects, engineers, and' other experts to provide a solution of two of the most pressing' problems of the capital and other great cities.

The London County Council had been considering car parks in these open spaces from the town planning point of view and now is considering with the Home Ofiice 'the dual aspect of air raid shelters and car parks eojnbined. The control of the squares lies with the municipal boroughs, and some are privately owned; bombproof shelters have been demanded as part of air raid precautions, but the cost is colossal.

Car .parks beneath the areas have been considered frequently since the automobile association first advocated them in 1925. Parliament lias approved underground parking- Ja principle" in tlie Ribbon Development Act, which ' gives local .authorities, power- to construct them. -

A committee of the London County Council reported in .1035 they could be built without destroying the usefulness of the squares and that they would "save the community an enormous expenditure of time, energy, and money." Legislation would be necessary to deal with plots privately owned. Congestion in London. London motorists are threatened with immediate restrictions and : the prohibition of private cars' from the central area. Traffic congestion, due to the lack of cheap and easily reached parking facilities, is creating problems of delay, waste, loss of business, and reduced taxable values which may admit of no other solution.

But car parks under the squares' have again and again been declared impracticable because they would not pay. On the other hand, since there must-be ailraid shelters, the cost would be mitigated if they were used as parking places in normal times. The experts who have produced the plans claim that the shelters can be made to, pay. The "mechanised" parks they plan would hold nearly twice as many cars as is ribrmally : possible and would need : "a. much, smaller staff to serve them. r v -A;

Cardiff is to have the first mechanised ,park. It- will provide for 500 cars ; 'beneatb. an open 'triangle in the civic centre.;

In .these; mechanised parks the', cars are arranged nose to tail in sections or self-contained separate bays, carried on endless belts, one space, always being left vacant for manoeuvring. When a'ear is wanted the attendant presses a switch ancf _ the* endless belts start in* opposite-. directions. As each car .reaches the end it is automatically traversed on to tlie adjoining belt until the car. required is brought to the front. Any: car, it is claimed, can be .got out of its bay in. thirty.seconds.

THE NEWS BEHIND THE NEWS.