A planned parking shake-up set to allow work to get under way on the new £50m Durham council headquarters will be a "real blow" to businesses, campaigners say.
Durham County Council announced The Sands car park will be closed for two years during the construction of its new base.
The Sidegate car park in the city will also be changed from long stay to short stay, and the coach park permanently relocated to Belmont Park and Ride.
But the decision has come under fire from members of the City of Durham Parish Council.
Councillor Roger Cornwell, chairman of the parish council's planning committee, said: "I know this news will come as a real blow to the many businesses we have in our city centre who rely on visitors to our city for their livelihoods.
"The county council say this is 'very much business as usual' but it won’t be for the many market traders who are now faced with no parking provision at all ahead of these plans being put in place, nor will it be for the many retailers we have in our city.
"To add further insult to injury, the parish council are only given two weeks’ notice of this."
Initial work for the new building is expected to start on Monday, August 12 and main construction due to get under way in September.
The new coach park at Belmont Park and Ride on the A690 will be expand and will be operational by the end of September, a temporary coach park will be available until then.
Parish council chairwoman Coun Elizabeth Scott said: "This is really unbelievable from this county council.
"They are closing the most central, well used open air car park at the height of the summer tourist season.
"At the same time, they are doing away with the long stay spaces at Sidegate at a time when much of the Prince Bishop's multi-storey car park is closed for refurbishment.
"Where exactly do they expect visitors of the city to park?"
Ms Scott said plans to relocate the coach park were "unsuitable".
"To add to this, the alternative provision of the replacement coach part at Belmont is totally unsuitable and something we are a parish council have never been consulted on," she said.
"This is all being done to enable the construction of their new county HQ which will have a devastating impact on our city."
Coun Joy Allen, cabinet member for transformation, culture and tourism at Durham County Council, said the city is "very much open for business".
She added: "There are also more than 450 new car parking spaces in the city at the recently opened Riverwalk development.
"All are within just a couple of minutes walk away from the city centre shops and businesses.
"The 136 public parking spaces at the Sands car park will be re-provided within a new multi-storey car park, which will provide 277 spaces once the new HQ is open.
"The additional spaces will be available for public use on evenings, weekends and bank holidays too. Walkergate car park on Freemans Place is also just a one minute walk away."
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She said the relocation of the coach park would mean it can be expanded from 11 spaces to 30 spaces and allow improved facilities for coach drivers, whilst visitors will continue to be dropped off at Freemans Place.
Thousands of people objected to the HQ application over a range of concerns, including traffic and the negative impact the development could have on the city's World Heritage Site status.
But councillors narrowly voted in favour of the proposal.
The local authority said the development will pave the way for a new multi-million pound business district at Aykley Heads, creating 6,000 new jobs and delivering a £400m boost to the county.
Around 250 news jobs will be created through the construction of the building, the authority says.
