South Winchester Park and Ride

Why does Winchester need another Park and Ride?

Winchester has a high number of daily in-bound commuters.  This is contributing to local congestion and air quality problems.

Winchester’s historic city centre has narrow streets and footways with very limited room for increasing provision for any road users. Over 60% of in-bound commuters are from the Solent area, emphasising the potential to accommodate this concentrated movement through improved public transport, particularly by rail and Park and Ride.

Park and Ride is a key element of the wider transport stategy for Winchester as set out in the Hampshire Local Transport Plan and Winchester District Local Plan.

The Park and Ride would be part of a programme of integrated transport measures which together would help to

• reduce city centre traffic and congestion  

• improve the city centre environment

• contribute to the Winchester City Air Quality Management Plan

• maintain the economic viability of the city

The existing Park and Ride car parks (Barfield and St Catherine’s) are approaching capacity and there is increasing pressure for long stay facilities.

The vision is to reduce traffic congestion in the city centre and its approaches.  This cannot be achieved without a reduction in long stay parking capacity (both public and company parking).  In turn, this will only be acceptable if alternative long stay parking is provided at the periphery of the city with Park and Ride.  

Park and Ride removes the need for people to drive to the central area to leave their cars all day and can offer more benefits than just long stay parking.  For example, sites can incorporate cycling facilities, provide a drop-off point for community transport schemes, and encourage tourism.

Reducing traffic congestion in the central area will create opportunities to develop other measures such as improvements for pedestrians, cyclists and bus users while conserving the unique character of the city and supporting the local economy.  Space currently occupied by long stay parking could be converted to short stay spaces or used for other purposes.

Providing a Park and Ride facility in the south Winchester area has the potential to reduce rush hour traffic flows on the Romsey Road and St Cross Road corridors by between 8 and 12% (2005 flows) - this is roughly comparable to the traffic reductions experienced during school holidays.

In the longer term, further Park and Ride sites are being considered on the other main approaches to Winchester to the west and the north of the city.

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