£35m Elland Road and Stourton park and ride schemes one step closer

Two multi-million pound schemes to get commuters out of their cars '“ at least for part of their journeys '“ are one step closer.
Elland Road park and ride.Elland Road park and ride.
Elland Road park and ride.

Business cases will now be put forward for park and ride schemes at Elland Road and Stourton after a West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) meeting.

The setting-up of a new park and ride scheme at Stourton is likely to cost around £30m, £27m of which will be granted by WYCA. Meanwhile, costs to increase the capacity of the existing park and ride site at Elland Road are expected to be £5.75m.

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The Stourton scheme had originally been expected to cost £23m, but a report which went before members claimed the £7m increase was a result of including the cost of solar panels and electric buses, as well as improvements in landscaping.

The site is expected to include 1,200 car parking spaces, as well as two bus stops and an electric bus charging point. This would also create nearly four extra miles in bus lanes. A bus into town is expected to take just 13 minutes.

A WYCA officer told the meeting: “This is one where we are looking to put in 1,200 parking spaces. This is looking to be an all-electric bus service, which is obviously a huge positive.

“It is affordable and the benefits will be a significant increase in bus patronage of 1,500 users a day.”

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The authority approved £635,000 to put together a full business case for the site. It is hoped construction will be completed in September 2020.

Work to expand the Elland Road site is set to take place around the same time, and will add an extra 550 parking spaces to cope with increasing demand.

There would also be an additional bus added to the services, which would increase the frequency at peak times from every eight minutes to every six minutes. The work would involve building a new link road between Bobby Collins Way and Lowfields Road.

The committee approved £165,000 to put together a business case for the site. Construction is expected to be complete by December 2020.