The planning application by the Council to expand Newbridge Park & Ride to create urgently needed spaces has been approved by Councillors.
The plans – part of the £27 million Bath Transportation Package – proposed an increase in capacity from 450 to 698 spaces, a covered waiting area, public toilets, and cycle storage.
Councillor David Dixon (Lib-Dem, Oldfield), Deputy Leader of Council, said: “Space at the Newbridge Park & Ride site is extremely limited and people arriving there close to midday are finding few spaces. This means those cars travelling into a congested Bath city centre are all trying to find a parking space adding to the traffic. Bath & North East Somerset Council is responding to this problem by expanding the site by over half and improving facilities.
“It is vital that as the Council progresses plans for new workspace and new jobs at the Bath City of Ideas Enterprise Area, business sees the infrastructure they need to access the city being created. Potential investors do not want to see a city they are keen on investing in grinding to halt because of a lack of Park & Ride capacity.”
Work is due to start to take place in early Spring 2014. Once complete, the project will represent the third expansion of Park & Ride sites in the area taking the total number of spaces from 1,990 to 2,860.
The approval has also been met positively by the business community.
Ian Bell, Executive Director of Bath Chamber of Commerce and the Initiative in B&NES, said: “Local business will be very happy to see this planning application approved. This Newbridge extension is urgently needed because it is too small for the size of Bath’s ambitions to provide an upgraded transport network that will support employers to get their staff, clients, and customers into Bath quickly and conveniently.”
Conservative shadow Transport spokesman, Cllr Anthony Clarke, said: “We’re pleased that work can finally now get started on the long-awaited expansion of the Newbridge Park and Ride. It’s around eighteen months behind schedule and anything up to a quarter of a million pounds over budget, but better late than never as they say.
“Creating more spaces at Bath’s Park and Rides will play an important role in tackling congestion by encouraging commuters and visitors out of their cars and onto the buses. What we now need is for the Council to shift its attention to the need to build a Park and Ride to the east of the city. We have had endless unfulfilled promises from the Lib Dems on this subject, so it’s time they got on with it.”
