A NEW 300-space park and ride site is being planned for Beaumont Leys.
The site – close to Beaumont Leys shopping centre – would provide a base for a new park and ride service into Leicester.
It would be owned, managed and run by Leicester City Council.
The service would draw users from the north west of the city and county, complementing the three existing park and ride routes from Enderby, Birstall and Meynells Gorse.
Existing bus services would be extended to serve the new site, giving a 10-15 minute connection time to both the city centre and Glenfield Hospital. These would include the Hospital Hopper; the 14A, run by FirstBus, and the 40 Outer Circle route, run by Centrebus.
Funds for the £1.4million scheme would come from the city council’s capital budget (£200,000) and the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund (£1.2m).
Customers would be able to park for free at the site and then just pay the relevant bus fare for their journey.
Deputy city mayor Cllr Adam Clarke, who leads on environment and transportation, said: “This is an exciting scheme and would be a great asset to the city. It would mean filling a key gap in our park and ride routes, giving travellers an easy and affordable alternative to driving into the city centre.
“In common with our other park and ride routes, we would look to provide electric buses, bringing them in over a two-year period. The plans also include cycle parking facilities and electric charging points for cars.
“Changing our transport habits is the kind of action we need to take to help address the urgent climate emergency we are all facing.”
The new park and ride site would also include a dedicated bus turning space and a sheltered waiting area with seating and real-time information board. More than 300 parking spaces would be provided.
Public engagement work, to gather people’s views on the plans, will commence over the summer. The site will require planning permission and an application is also expected to be submitted in the summer.
Should planning permission be granted, the scheme would aim to be operational in summer 2022.
Leicester City Council is carrying out an ambitious £80million citywide programme of investment in sustainable transport, backed by £40million from the Department for Transport’s Transforming Cities Fund (TCF).
The package of work will focus on major sustainable transport improvements to provide attractive choices for people to get to work, education, local and other facilities, supporting the city’s growth and delivering on the council’s climate emergency, air quality and healthy living commitments.
Match funding is being provided through the city council, Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP), local bus operators and other partners.
Schemes include the development of new bus priority corridors linking the city centre to city neighbourhoods and suburbs, and the continued development of a network of high-quality cycling and walking routes throughout the city building on the success of Connecting Leicester. It will also see the introduction of electric buses onto the park and ride services and a new electric bike hire scheme, in partnership with Santander.
Find out more about Leicester’s existing park and ride sites at https://www.choosehowyoumove.co.uk/park-ride/
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