HOSPITAL chiefs hope to ease the parking misery at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

It has long been a bone of contention among patients and visitors but now the problem could be eased as hospital bosses are making moves to improve parking on the Acre Street site.

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, has applied for planning permission to add at least 117 new parking spaces.

Bosses also want to make footway improvements to allow pedestrians to move safely around the site and add ticket barriers to control car flow to and from the site.

Visitors have complained for years about there being too few parking spaces on the site, angered at having to continuously drive round the car park hunting for a space.

Last year councillors gave the green light to the hospital’s plans to build two multi-storey car parks on its Acre Mills site, which are yet to be built.

Kirklees Council planners are now considering the hospital’s application to improve the problem of parking on the main site.

Proposed improvements include the ticket barrier access, for which ticket machines will be available in the hospital lobby.

Some of the extra parking spaces would be created on undeveloped land to the south of the site while others would come from demolishing existing garages.

Parts of the road surrounding the hospital would also realigned to provide extra parking.

Most of the spaces are designated for areas where unregulated parking is currently being carried out, so bosses hope these would go some way to solving the parking problem.

A spokesperson for the Trust said: “Many hospitals have problems with car parking and unfortunately we are no exception, particularly during busy visiting times.

“This plan is one of several steps we are hoping to take to alleviate the problem and making visiting or attending the hospital easier for both our visitors and patients.

“The current application is for barrier controlled car parking which will provide a total of 117 new spaces.”

Improved footways, dropped kerb points and new pedestrian crossing points would be created to help visitors and patients move safely around the site.

On the proposals the report says: “They provide a range of parking and pedestrian improvements, will improve the appearance of the Infirmary and provide a layout which works better around the site.

“The scheme proposals will vastly improve the car parking situation at HRI, formalising the current fly parking situation.

“This is required due to the demand for parking spaces by staff and visitors to the site.”

The hospital has stressed that the proposed improvements are in addition to the Acre Mills development.