AN underground car park would be built beneath Newcastle's Civic Park under a radical plan from Lord Mayor John Tate to ease the city's parking shortage.
Cr Tate will float in a lunchtime speech to the Newcastle Business Club today the idea of digging up and returfing Civic Park.
Predictions that the city's growing CBD will be thousands of car spaces short in the coming years have prompted the new thinking.
"There's a big demand for parking," Cr Tate said.
The lack of CBD parking is set to be compounded with the University of Newcastle's impending move into the city, new development and office tenancies, growth of City Hall and Civic Theatre business and a redesign of Laman Street that could shut out cars.
The future of Newcastle City Council parking stations, such as in Gibson Street, is also in question, with an organisational review suggesting ageing sites be sold.
"When you take all that into account, there's need for increased parking in this area," Cr Tate said.
Cr Tate wants strategists to consider new and innovative ideas as part of planning for the city's future.
"The area I would like investigated is underneath Civic Park," he said.
"Dig it up and put a car park station underneath."
Although the proposal is expected to shock many Novocastrians, Cr Tate believes the park could be restored to create something akin to The Domain in Sydney.
"People are going to freak out about digging up the park," Cr Tate said.
But excavation could exclude sensitive areas such as war memorials and well-established trees, with green space built back on top of the parking station, he said.
As well as hundreds of extra car spaces, there might be other benefits if elements such as a pedestrian walkway under King Street were built into the plan.
The council might use money from the proposed Gibson Street parking station sale to finance the Civic Park project.
"I think it's an option that needs to be thought about in terms of this precinct plan and in terms of this future city," Cr Tate said.
Newcastle-based Lindsay & Dynan associate engineer Brad Wilkes said building a car park beneath Civic Park was possible, but cost would be a major consideration.
"From a technical perspective, yes it's possible," Mr Wilkes said.
"We build tunnels under the Sydney Harbour, it's not hard in comparison to that to build a car park under Civic Park. It's a question of money.
"They obviously have to do a cost-benefit analysis and assess whether it's the best option financially."
Civic Park was used as a car park in the 1950s and 60s before the Captain Cook fountain was built.
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