Stafford's station car park set to open

The new three-storey car park at Stafford Railway Station is expected to be open within the next two to three weeks.

The £8.1 million car park in Station Road will provide 522 spaces - 272 more than was previously available.

Work started about a year ago on the scheme, funded by Network Rail, with Balfour Beatty as the main contractor.

Network Rail spokesman Keith Lumley said the car park was likely to open in early October.

He added that once the new car park was open for business, the north car park beyond the Mercedes car showroom will be closed for about four weeks.

The existing pay and display ticket machines will be removed and they will be replaced by pay-on-foot ticket machines and barriers.

CCTV will also be installed and the lighting will be improved and the surface will be re-lined.

"Finally, the car park immediately to the right of the station front, where the work site cabins are set up, will have pay-on-foot barriers installed.

"And that will also become the permanent location for the taxi rank," explained Mr Lumley.

The new car park was designed to relieve pressure on nearby streets and car parks. 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 that are managed by Virgin.

Original plans for the new car park opposite Victoria Park had to be amended.

The site falls within a conservation area and Network Rail's original plan was branded a "monstrosity" by some members of Stafford Borough Council's development control committee.

Network Rail did not require planning permission as it was on an existing main station car park and thus "permitted development".

Part of the building nearest to the Newport Road bridge was reduced in height by 1.7 metres and the structure was moved 6.7 metres further away from the bridge.

The building is in brown and green colours to blend in with the park, including red cedar timber cladding and olive green mesh.