Bid to bolster city’s transport

The long-awaited introduction of desperately needed park-and-ride sites in York has reached a milestone after the start of the formal tendering process to recruit an internationally-renowned company for the project.

Two new schemes costing a total of £22 million are being planned to bolster York’s existing park-and-ride network which has been key in containing traffic levels and the number of vehicles heading into the city centre.

Senior officials at York Council have admitted that a successful park-and-ride service is “the cornerstone” of the city’s transport strategy and the current plans to expand the network have been in the pipeline for nearly a decade after they were first drawn up in 2003.

The proposals would see an existing facility at Askham Bar relocated and doubled in size, with a new site introduced on the outskirts of York at Upper Poppleton.

The council’s cabinet member for transport, planning and sustainability, Coun Dave Merrett, claimed the Access York scheme represented the biggest overhaul of the city’s transport provision since a massive review of bus services in 2001.

He added: “The park-and-ride schemes have been discussed for the best part of a decade now, and the need for them has not gone away throughout this time.

“This is a defining moment for York, and this £22m project represents one of the largest single investments in the city’s transport infrastructure since the northern ring road was built.”

An official contract notice for the construction of the Access York project has been published in the hope of attracting interest from potential bidders from across the continent.

While Coun Merrett admitted a foreign company could be recruited to manage the project, he hoped the vast majority of the workforce would be contracted in from Yorkshire-based firms to carry out the actual construction.

Companies from across Europe have until July 23 to complete a pre-qualification questionnaire which will then be assessed to draw up a shortlist of five or six firms.

Detailed tender documents will be issued to the shortlisted firms in August to set out the costings of the Access York scheme.

Confirmation will still be needed from the Government to ensure that funding is available as Westminster is due to pay for about 70 per cent of the overall £22m cost of the park-and-ride scheme.

But once this has been secured and the tenders have been evaluated and the preferred bidder selected, it is anticipated construction work will start in January next year before the park-and-ride sites are completed in April 2014.

Senior councillors agreed in March to purchase the land for the two developments at Poppleton Bar and Askham Bar.

Coun Merrett has previously warned that a dramatic culture shift is needed to cut car use and tackle congestion in York - one of the UK’s fastest growing cities - after air pollution has been linked to scores of deaths every year.

The Yorkshire Post revealed in December that Coun Merrett had spoken of his hope car use will be cut by five per cent in the next three years amid attempts to promote alternative modes of transport, such as walking, cycling and buses.

The city’s existing park-and-ride network has been instrumental in helping prevent congestion on York’s roads to get commuters, shoppers and tourists into the city centre.

But the number of new park-and-ride sites had to be reduced from three to two before the Government approved the plans in November last year.

The council has stressed a third park-and-ride scheme at Clifton Moor could be revived if funding is secured.

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