MORE than a hundred parking spaces in Winchester city centre will be lost in the next few months when a crumbling multi-storey is finally closed.

Friarsgate is set to shut as engineers insist the 1970s block is structurally unsound.

City council leader Rob Humby told the Hampshire Chronicle that it could close “fairly soon”.

Capacity at the multi-storey has already halved this year after safety inspectors shut several floors.

Its structural safety has been maintained with weekly inspections but civic chiefs now admit the complex, one of Winchester’s tallest buildings, has come to the end of its life.

City transport chief Mike Southgate said the closure would have little impact on traffic congestion as the car park is rarely full.

“I’m not certain that taking Friarsgate out is going to make a big difference,” he said.

“We don’t want to direct people in there. I’d rather people used it as a car park of last resort – it’s not nice.”

Cllr Humby admitted that the car park will probably lay empty for years until the Silver Hill area is redeveloped.

He said: “When you’re looking at doing something of Silver Hill’s size you don’t go and spend money on something that’s in the process of being redeveloped.

“Friarsgate is just an example of one of the problems of what happens if Silver Hill doesn’t go ahead.”

Cutting public parking spaces from 351 to 279 was one of several controversial changes to the Silver Hill project which civic chiefs approved on Thursday.

The £165 million scheme will replace all but 21 spaces to be lost when Friarsgate is bulldozed.

There are currently around 760 off-street spaces in Winchester’s shopping quarter, which includes Friarsgate, Colebrook Street and car parks in and around The Brooks Centre.