THE massive multi-million pound task of rebuilding the Castlepoint car park is still on track to start this year.

Preparatory works have already started at the shopping park in anticipation of the rebuild which will start later this year.

No official start date has been given but according to the Castlepoint Partnership the rebuild will go ahead as planned.

A spokesman for the Castlepoint Partnership said: “Our contractor Kier will be modifying the entrances to Castlepoint around Sainsbury’s and Shopmobility in anticipation of the car park rebuild, which we are still aiming to start this year.

“This will not affect access to either the shops or the car park, or result in any reduction in parking spaces.

“We expect the work to be completed in approximately 10 weeks.”

The rebuild, which has planning permission from Bournemouth Borough Council, was pushed back last year so as not to disrupt the vital Christmas trading period.

The actual demolition and rebuild, which will now start next year, will be done in five phases, starting at Sainsbury’s and working along the two malls.

It is expected to take five years to complete.

The anchor stores - Sainsbury’s, Asda, M&S and B&Q - will not need to close but smaller shop units will each close for five days on a rolling basis as the walkways outside their entrances are rebuilt.

IIt has now been 13 years since the problems of Castlepoint’s car park first came to light in 2003.

Reports of falling concrete led to spaces being cordoned off and in December 2005, the car park had to be closed completely because of cracks appearing in the concrete floor and columns.

It fully re-opened a month later with a temporary fix in place and the best part of a decade was then spent negotiating a permanent solution.

The rebuilding of the car park will also include aesthetic improvements, with shoppers promised the end result will be a brighter, better-looking car park.

However the rebuild will also mean a reduced number of parking spaces going from 2,818 spaces to 2,500.

But Castlepoint manager Peter Matthews said since he started his job in 2005 the car park has never been full and it has only come close to being at capacity on two occasions.