Parking at Gloucester Station is set to double this winter after work began on a new car park today.
The £2.7 million works are due to complete by the end of 2017, and will provide 240 additional spaces at a new, separate car park. A new northern entrance into Gloucester Station will also be provided.
MP for Gloucester Richard Graham said: “Action starts today on an additional new station car park and access to the station from Great Western Road. It’s been a marathon since I first raised this in 2013 but all work is now planned to be completed by the end of the year.
This will add 240 new car parking places, which is good for station parking capacity and may help Hospital capacity too: it will allow much quicker pedestrian access to and from the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital; and provides an additional way of driving to and from the station – the right turn off Bruton Way is far from ideal, and the 300 degree exit onto Bruton Way/Metz Way is very bad at rush hour.
Now we have to sort the underpass, improve the forecourt and get a new exit out of the current station car park onto Metz Way. I’m working on a plan for this with the City Council.”
GWR Commercial Development Director Matthew Golton said: “More and more people are turning to rail for their local and long distance journeys; to meet this demand later this year we will start to see brand new Intercity Express Trains on the GWR network, offering more seats and more frequent services.
“GWR is dedicated to supporting the communities it serves and this new car park when complete, alongside improved rail services, will enable the local economy to continue to thrive both now and into the future.”
Presently Gloucester Station has 199 long stay, plus short stay parking bays on the main forecourt. The new car park off Great Western Road will add an extra 240 spaces.
Leader of Gloucester City Council Paul James said: “I’m delighted to see work start on the new car park. It has taken a lot of determined effort from all sides to reach this stage, but shows what we can achieve when national and local government and the private sector all work together.”
