Town's park and ride given three-year reprieve

A park and ride service which was axed in June will now remain open for at least the next three years after a public outcry.

Four months ago, Shropshire Council announced the Meole Brace site, located to the south of the town, would stop operating in November because of low usage and funds would be redirected to support other bus routes in the county.

Last month, the council announced the park and ride site would remain open in the short term, while a "conversation" over parking took place.

Now, it has announced that additional funding has been found and the service has been awarded to Hotspur Buses for an initial three-year period.

When it was announced the service would be cut, a petition to keep the service going was signed by around 5,000 people, while residents had also "filled the inboxes" of many councillors, to make their displeasure known.

Rob Wilson, the Shropshire councillor responsible for transport said: "We know how strongly many people value this service, particularly those travelling into Shrewsbury from the south of the town and the wider county."

When the council originally announced the Meole Brace service would end, it had blamed increased financial pressures and said delivering the same level of service - at an additional cost of £521,000 a year - was unsustainable.

Then, last month, the council's deputy leader, Alex Wagner, said up to £500,000 of increased parking charge revenue would be used to keep the service going while a long-term solution to the town's park and ride provisions could be found.

In the council's latest announcement, it said it hoped the three-year deal to keep it open would allow time for a long term park and ride strategy to be drawn up for the town.

The council said the Meole Brace park and ride buses would operate every 20 minutes, Monday to Saturday, with the first bus into Shrewsbury town centre at 07:20 and the last bus leaving the town centre at approximately 18:20.

At the same time, it said it would go ahead with planned improvements to the Oxon and Harlescott park and ride services.

But there has been no change of heart for Ludlow's park and ride service which was also due to close.

That has angered people in the south Shropshire town, who believe increased parking charges there are being used to fund park and ride in Shrewsbury.

Rosemary Dartnall, the leader of the Labour group on Shropshire Council, said the Meole Brace announcement was "great news indeed".

She said she believed passengers had been "perplexed and bewildered by the council's previous decision to suspend the service from 1 November".

Dartnall said she hoped passenger numbers would grow again and prove the service should remain.

Wilson also said he was pleased to "find a way forward which keeps Meole Brace Park and Ride operating from November".

He said over the next three years the council would monitor how Shrewsbury's three park and ride sites performed.

That would feed into a plan to reduce traffic into the town centre, he said.

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