Landmark car park to be boarded up after court order
BBCLeicester's landmark Lee Circle car park is to be boarded up after reports of crime and anti-social behaviour on the site.
Leicester City Council successfully applied for a closure order to be imposed on the multi-storey car park, which has been disused since operator National Car Parks (NCP) went into administration in March.
The council and Leicestershire Police said the site had been left unsecured since it closed.
The authority said it had been used for illegal car meets, drug use, and that trespassers had been starting fires and defecating in the stairwells.
During a hearing at Leicester Magistrates' Court on Thursday, the council's application for a closure order was granted.
Solicitors for the site owner, Synergie Portfolio Limited, and NCP's administrators, PwC, attended the hearing but they did not oppose the order.
District judge Nick Watson said: "I'm satisfied the criteria for making a closure order have been met.
"There is clear evidence of criminal behaviour taking place in the premises."
The council is set to secure the building on Friday and said it would seek to reclaim the cost of the boarding-up operation from the owner.
The 1,070-space car park will remain sealed off for at least three months or until a new operator takes it on.
The closure order prohibits anyone from entering the building apart from council staff, emergency services workers, Synergie employees and prospective tenants.
The remaining shops on the ground level of the building will remain open for business.
Leicester mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: "Despite many requests, neither NCP or the owner of the building have made any attempt to secure it and prevent it from being a hazard to the public, and so the council has taken this action.
"While we remain hopeful that an operator will still come forward to take over the car park, it's essential that the building is made safe and secure in the meantime, and the work needed to ensure this can now go ahead.
"We will of course be seeking to recover all of our costs for this work from those responsible for the building."
Residents and businesses in the area told the BBC homeless people had been living in the car park in recent weeks and that it had been used by drug dealers.
They also said cars had been "racing up and down" the parking levels.
The car park is a well-known landmark in Leicester and was known as the Auto-Magic Car Park when it opened in 1961.
Lee Circle was among the first automated public car parks, using coin-operated barriers.
Beneath the six parking levels, the supermarket chain Tesco opened its first store outside London.
Actor and comedian Sid James, star of the Carry On films, opened the car park and the store in front of a crowd of 2,000 people.
Lee Circle is one of five car parks in Leicester which closed when NCP went into administration.
Car Parks in Abbey Street, St Nicholas Circle and East Street have since been re-opened by Euro Car Parks.
The Rutland Centre car park, near to Curve theatre in the city's cultural quarter, remains closed, but has been secured by its owners, the council said.
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