Park and ride project pushed down priority list

A long-awaited Park and Ride scheme for Lincoln looks to have been pushed back.

Last year Lincolnshire County Council selected a site for one of the car parks and said the system could be running in the next five years.

Senior officials have now admitted the financial climate meant other projects, like the Eastern Bypass and East West Link, would take priority.

While some background work was going on, the council said much of the plan would have to wait for private funding.

The idea is for for three car parks, to the north east, south east and west of the city.

New funding

The authority has earmarked a site near the Carholme roundabout where the A46 Lincoln bypass joins the A57 for the western parking facility.

But the county council said it had agreed with other authorities involved that the scheme was a lower priority.

Les Outram is the Senior Project Officer at Lincolnshire County Council said: "This does dictate how fast you can move forward with park and ride.

"But this does not mean nothing is going on. The north east and south east quadrants will probably have to wait for development but for the western part we have done a lot of work.

"This covers planning, access on and off the road network for buses and cars and also an alternative way of funding that."

Mr Outram said these details would be published next month.

A decision on funding of the bypass is expected from the government by the end of the year.