Parking scheme to cope with city visitors

Hull City Council has secured £70,000 of funding that will help it develop plans for the park-and-ride it wants to develop off the Saltend Roundabout.

The authority hopes that work will mean it can put the scheme forward for funding from the Humber Local Transport Body.

Alternatively, a bid for £5m of the money secured by the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund could also be made.

The council also wants to secure contributions from developers building close to the preferred site which lies just outside the city boundary to the east of Paull Road on land owned by Associated British Ports.

The council believes that if it can secure the land and funding it could be ready to start construction in 2015.

Hull is expecting a large influx of additional visitors in 2017 when it will be the UK City of Culture.

The new park-and-ride could also help alleviate traffic delays when the long-awaited work to upgrade the A63 begins sometime after 2015.

It is expected the new facility would have a dedicated bus service running through the city centre with stops at Hull Prison, the Paragon Interchange and the KC Stadium, finishing at the existing park-and-ride scheme at Priory Park.

A report to be considered by councillors next month says the Priory Park service, which has been open almost ten years, is used by around 366,000 passengers per year.

The council has plans for a third park-and-ride site to the north of the city but difficulties securing the land and developments to the east, including the Greenport Hull project, have led the authority to prioritise the building of the eastern scheme.