Southend park and rail idea being explored for city centre

The park and ride scheme trialled in 2017 was designed to alleviate traffic at the seafront

A park and rail scheme is being explored for Southend city centre as an alternative to park and ride.

In 2017, the then borough council trialled buses from a car park at the civic centre to the seafront, but shelved the idea after a low take-up.

A scrutiny meeting heard park and ride was "unsuccessful and unviable".

Kevin Buck, cabinet member for transport at the city council, said he was looking into the "well-connected rail services" instead.

Amid calls for park and ride to be re-examined, Mr Buck said the city council was "constrained by many determining factors", with no obvious, immediate solution.

"The main challenges we face are available land at the edge of the city to implement the significant out-of-town parking area needed," he said.

"[It would also require] re-allocating our already very well-utilised existing carriageway space for a dedicated bus lane.

"I am exploring alternatives to this, such as a park and rail to help drive more passengers on to rail at the edge of the city and use the well-connected rail services to the city centre instead."