New Bristol park and ride to keep cars off road

Hundreds of cars will be taken off streets surrounding Parkway Station when a new park and ride opens in Stoke Gifford.

South Gloucestershire Council hopes main construction work will start on the facility next year.

Once complete, it will have spaces for 200 cars and be used primarily by train passengers travelling out of Parkway.

But it is also hoped to attract commuters who can catch buses for the final part of their journey to work.

The Parkway North scheme is one of a number of park and rides planned for the outskirts of Bristol which it is hoped will go some way to tackling congestion .

Funding for the proposal, on land in Hunts Ground Road, is already in place and a planning application has just been submitted to the council's planning department.

The authority said the park and ride, to be covered by CCTV cameras, would help encourage more people to travel by public transport. But it also hopes it will tackle a problem of increasing numbers of cars being left on streets near the station.

It said in recent years, the level of on-street parking had increased so much that it had become not only a nuisance to residents but also a hazard to other road users.

Pedestrians especially faced reduced visibility when trying to cross the road.

More parking restrictions are set to be introduced in the area, with yellow lines to be painted on some roads.

But with fewer streets available for parking, that will only make the need for a park and ride even greater.

The land for the park and ride is a former brickworks and is the only site in South Gloucestershire with a breeding colony of the small blue butterfly.

Slow worms also live there and it is proposed to set aside a part of the plot as a wildlife habitat in order to protect the species.

Councillor Brian Allinson, South Gloucestershire's cabinet member for transport, said: " The council is continuing to progress its park and ride provision, as part of a wider package of congestion-beating transport improvements in the district that include the Greater Bristol Bus Network and Cycling City project.

"We know there is considerable demand for parking at Parkway and that by providing this park and ride we will help meet this demand and encourage more of our residents to use public transport."