I haven't been able to confirm that suggestion and the council is denying there are any plans to sell the car park afoot. But what the actual plans are is difficult to determine too. Liverpool Council general manager Phil Tolhurst told me that potential plans for the car park were currently being worked on by council workers and would be presented to council with a recommendation sometime down the track and then councillors will be able to vote on them. He said the parking lot is in bad shape and will definitely be demolished no matter what.

From what I understand, the complex has something known as concrete cancer which makes concrete very porous and unstable and it has only two years left to ``live''. Mr Tolhurst said that it will be ruled structurally unsound after two years, so that's why the council needs to decide what is to be done with it very soon. That's also why they had to give the shop owners in the Car Park Arcade until the end of February to vacate their premises.

The arcade is attached to the car park building and apparently part of it is structurally unsound too. Now obviously if its about to crumble; it should be demolished, that's not the problem. But what will be provided in its place? I don't know the answer to that just yet, I just hope its something.

One business owner suggested to me that they should attempt to refurbish the car park in sections and leave parts of it open while they do that. The general manager says that this isn't an option, but could it be an idea, could the building be held up with supports for some time at least? The parking situation in Liverpool is so dire, that all options need to be considered. Does it really need to be knocked down in one go? And will a temporary location be provided to accommodate those 300 or so spots?

If not, business at that end of town will really struggle, at least for several months if not years, while a new car park is constructed, or a new parking strategy is created. Most customers will stop going shopping in that area and won't go back after the car park is rebuilt, it could really be a disaster for Liverpool's economy in the long run.

And all because of a car park. If anything the whole thing needs to be decided as quickly as possible and the building needs to be knocked down as soon as is practical, just so something can be done quickly. What would be ideal would be a six storey car park in that location, at least double the capacity it has now, with several floors underground. But during these tough economic times and with the council's finances so over stretched, this could well and truly be just wishful thinking.

The other factor of course, is that parking has become all the more expensive. The council's ever vigilant parking inspectors are fining people for questionable parking ``offences'', which this paper has often reported on, left, right and centre and the cost of the Warren Service Way Car Park has recently increased dramatically. Meaning you could pay anywhere between $12 to up to $189 for a day's parking in this city.

The question arises: why would anyone come here? With hardly any parking and heavy fines and costs if you can find it, Liverpool seems like a place to avoid rather than an area to flock to. It doesn't seem like an appealing place to come for shopping, or for business, or banking or to doctors' appointments or to search for work, if you'll need to spend an hour in an attempt to find parking.

And its something the council knows all about. All of the councillors that are on our council now, identified parking in the CBD as a big problem for Liverpool that they would work to solve. But now, a year after they were elected, what's changed? Absolutely nothing.

As usual excuses abound: councillors tell me that they now realise that the wheels of local government move very slowly; that next time they're on council they'll know how to get things done more effectively; that parking is a complicated issue to solve and of course, my favourite, that they're working out a parking strategy which will be announced soon. The CBD Committee, a new council committee set up by this new council, is supposed to be working on solving this issue and others facing the CBD such as security, crime, encouraging business investment, addressing the lack of recreational opportunities and others. But again results have proven to be slim to nil. So what are the councillors waiting for?

Suggestions of setting up car parks in several spots on the outskirts of the CBD with shuttle buses travelling into the CBD every fifteen minutes have been flying around for years. Everyone has a theory on where the next car park should be and where funding for it can come from, but still council does nothing.

I think it's up to the councillors to push for a car park as soon as possible, especially if Northumberland Street Car Park is going to be demolished, we're going to need a facility to fill the gap. At least temporarily, so this is the time for action and I hope the councillors all recognise that and prove their worth by solving one the most controversial issues in the area at the time of greatest need.