PLANS for a long-awaited park and ride in Southampton are set to be given the green light today – and could open as early as next summer.
The service would link the western area of Southampton to the city centre as part of a deal with the NHS to base it at a new health campus that will be built at Bargain Farm in Nursling.
The site, which will be situated next to Lidl’s new store on Brownhill Way, will be run by University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, and include 1,000 car park spaces.
However, as part of the deal between the council and NHS trust, the service would only be available for public use on weekends and in case of events in the city, with NHS staff using it exclusively Monday to Friday from 6am to 10pm.
City councillors will vote on the proposals this afternoon, which will include releasing £1m from the authority’s Transforming Cities Fund to pay for “on-site infrastructure and facilities” to allow for public use of the car park for Park & Ride.
If given the go-ahead by cabinet members, council officers will then enter into discussions with hospital bosses to thrash out the finer details. The agreement will last for an initial five years.
Councillor Steve Leggett, cabinet member for Green City and Place at Southampton City Council, said: “Improving public transport in Southampton is high on our agenda in order to achieve our aims of reducing congestion, improving local air quality and supporting sustainable growth, and we are working hard to make bus travel more efficient than ever before. Park and Ride will play a vital role in this and we recognise there are strong calls for this across the city.
WBy approving the recommendations of this report, the council will take an important step towards delivering these exciting plans which support our commitment to a greener and healthier city.”
According to official documents, the proposed route for the park and ride service would be along the M271 from J1, then via the A33 Redbridge Road-Millbrook Road West - Mountbatten Way to Southampton Central Station (southside) and terminate on Portland Terrace-Albion Place.
Work on the multi-story car park is expected to start later this winter - according to a council report- once the agreement between the city council and hospital chiefs is signed.
The car park is proposed to have electric vehicle charging points, cycle parking, lifts, lighting, security and barrier control.
But the site is also being looked at for a “local mobility hub” where a range of options such as e-scooters and e-cargo bikes could also be available.
As part of the plans, there would also be a number of other roadworks.
These would include changes to the Frogmore Lane and Brownhill Way junction and to the Coxford Road and Lords Hill Way junction as well as bus stops, bus priority and access improvements at Lords Hill Way, bus stop improvements between Adanac Park and the hospital and bus priority measures on the A33 between Redbridge Roundabout and the city centre.
A public consultation is expected to be held but further details are yet to be revealed.
According to the authority, the park and ride site could be completed by next February with the first service for residents anticipated for summer 2022.
The main access to the park and ride site would be from Adanac Drive.
Buses will use a bus only access link road from the bus interchange to the new Lidl store entrance, a report revealed.
The scheme will be funded with money from Transforming Cities Fund and has attracted mixed view from city leaders.
Alan Whitehead, MP for Southampton Test, said: “I think that this is a promising development in the fight to reduce congestion and pollution in the city. “
But Cllr Steven Galton, shadow cabinet member for transport, fears the scheme would increase traffic elsewhere in the city.
He raised concerns about how the project will be funded in the future and said: “Labour need to come clean on how they intend to make this work.”
Caroline Nokes, MP for Romsey and Southampton North, added: “It is crucially important the City Council finds solutions to the congestion and air quality problems in the City and clearly park and ride is part of that. But it does need to be innovative and enthusiastic about promoting it as a sustainable choice for commuters.”
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