VISITORS to Newport will have to wait just a little bit longer before they can use a much anticipated new city centre car park.

It was expected that the Kingsway car park would open this Spring but this winter's cold snap has contributed to a delay.

Tom Tyler, of Chester Properties - the asset manager for UBS Triton Property Fund, owner of the Kingsway Shopping Centre - said it was now due to open in the Autumn.

"We are making good progress and we are hoping for September although it might slip into October," said Mr Tyler.

It was originally intended that the car park would be finished last year.

However, the news that it will be finished before the next festive shopping season gets under way should be a boost for traders.

Mr Tyler said when they first started work on the major project, putting in the foundations took longer than expected because of hard rock in the ground.

The recent freezing weather also caused a delay because it held up a process involving the casting of concrete as it could have caused structural problems.

When it is completed, the new car park is expected to provide more than 1,000 spaces in a safe, well-lit environment. It will enter directly into the Kingsway Shopping Centre.

It replaces the former car park which was closed in the summer of 2002 and later demolished.

Regarded as one of the city's most prominent eyesores, it was declared unsafe by structural engineers.