Stafford's new £8m car park set to hit deadline

Construction work at a new £8 million multi-storey car park in Stafford has now been completed.

Steelwork at the site next to the town's railway station was finished two weeks ago and the concrete decks in the car park were finished last week.

Bosses are now beginning to fit out the building and it is on target to be completed by October.

The car park will provide an extra 272 additional spaces and is designed to relieve pressure on nearby streets and car parks which are clogged by commuters.

In total, the multi-storey car park will have space for 522 cars.

Residents in the Castletown area have long bemoaned the state of parking by railway passengers who were unable or unwilling to pay for parking at the station.

At the height of the project, a team of 35 men were working on the site.

During the construction, commuters have been forced to make use of an alternative car park provided on Doxey Road with a free shuttle bus between the station.

The work at Stafford is part of a joint project between Virgin Trains and Network Rail to improve car parking at all 17 stations on the West Coast route, which are managed by Virgin Trains.

This includes stations at Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton and Birmingham International.

Network Rail has said the number of people now travelling by train is greater than ever before and demand is set to rise in future years.

The bid to improve car parking is one way of trying to meet the expected demand.

Keith Lumley, spoksman for Network Rail said the project was on target and within budget.

He said: "The steelwork was completed two weeks ago and the concrete decks were completed on Wednesday July 14.

"The maximum number of people that have been working on site at any one time has been 35, but this has scaled back now we are in the fit-out phase.

"The car park will provide 272 additional spaces spread over a ground floor and three levels.

"It is costing Network Rail a little over £8m and is on target to be completed in October."