Twickenham's only multi-storey car park is in need of £500,000 worth of repairs to stop it from closing.

Richmond Council has uncovered the main causes of wear and tear at the Arragon Road multi-storey car park in Twickenham...traffic.

That unsurprising news came at a meeting of the council's planning and transport committee last week.

A council report said: "The car park is a reinforced concrete structure constructed in the 1970s and exhibits evidence of slow degradation due to wear and tear from traffic."

Now the council is looking to spend up to £500,000 on repairing the damage.

And if the repairs are not carried out the council fears the car park could close or lead to more expensive maintenance bills in the future.

One council official gave this warning: "Failure to undertake the repairs would ultimately result in structural damage occurring, leading to more expensive repairs than envisaged and the closure of the car park."

It has drawn up a list of four options and has invited seven companies to put in a tender for the work.

Options range from repairs to levels three and four which would cost £150,000 to work on all eight levels which would cost £490,000.

Repairs will start in March and take four to 10 weeks to carry out. Car parking fees will pay for the repairs.

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