A CITY centre car park will close permanently saving Newport council £90,000 a year.

The Capitol car park, near Newport bus station, will shut on January 29.

The decision taken by the council’s cabinet member for Highways and transport, David Atwell, is part of a long-term plan for the redevelopment in the city centre, which included closing the car park once the new Kingsway car park opened alongside it last summer.

Capitol closed to the general public in August but remained open for staff parking.

The council said the decision to close it on a permanent basis would save it £90,000 a year through services such as cleaning and maintenance, which would no longer be needed, and savings on rates and utilities bills.

It added the car park would be demolished in the near future.

The 1,050 space Kingsway car park, which includes 30 disabled spaces and parent and child spaces, is situated next to the library and Newport Centre.

It was built to replace one of Newport's most prominent eyesores - the previous Kingsway car park, which closed in 2002 and demolished in 2006, after it was declared unsafe.

As well as serving Kingsway Shopping Centre, it was also intended to provide spaces for people using the proposed Friars Walk Scheme, which fell through last June.

Newport council hopes a new developer will come forward to deliver a similar-sized shopping scheme in John Frost Square - and will have the advantage of having the car park already in place.