Birstall £5.5m park and ride scheme opens

A new £5.5m park and ride has opened in Leicester.

The facility at Birstall, which is near the A6 and A46, began operating at 0700 BST.

The joint project between the city and county councils, which was set up to tackle congestion, has been funded by the government and developer Jelson.

It will link up with an existing park and ride service at Enderby to provide a connecting service and cut costs, the county council said.

Lesley Pendleton, the county council's cabinet member for environment and transport, said: "Linking up the two park and rides significantly reduces costs and enables us to run two sites for the price of one, whilst opening it up to Charnwood and Melton residents and visitors arriving from the north of the county and beyond.

"The park and ride has been constructed on time and within budget and I'm pleased it's opening its doors to the public."

Leicester's assistant mayor, Councillor Ted Cassidy, said the new park and ride would help to cut carbon emissions in the city as each bus could take up to 50 cars off the road.

More than 4,000 trees and 9,500 shrubs have been planted at the site.