Bridgnorth park and ride plan finally gets in gear

The scheme, running only on Saturdays, will see the first bus leave the livestock market and auction centre in Tasley and make its way along the Bridgnorth High Street on April 11.

The park and ride was originally mooted last year but had to be scrapped after Shropshire Council decided not to fund the £20,000 project.

Bridgnorth Chamber of Commerce has now taken up the reins and hopes the trial service will run until September on a trial basis.

The bus will leave Tasley on Saturday mornings from 9am with the final pick-up from Sainsbury's in Bridgnorth at 3.30pm.

Chamber member Deanna Deighton said: "The park and ride will be a simple circular route from the auction yard car park at Tasley to Sainsbury's.

"Nock Deighton is very kindly letting us use its car park in Tasley free of charge and because of this we have to work with them.

"There will be a small charge per car for the circular route, which will be probably be £2, but this still has to be finalised.

"The Bridgnorth Chamber of Commerce will be underwriting the cost of the pilot project."

The service will not run for two Saturdays, on June 13 and August 29, because of sales at the auction centre.

Mrs Deighton said she hoped visitors would use the park and ride scheme to explore the town.

"We hope this means they will travel on our famous Bridgnorth Cliff Railway to explore the riverside and Low Town," she said.

"Car parking can be a trial on Saturdays when visitors drive into the town and return home after failing to find parking spaces.

"The chamber hopes this will help to solve the problem."

Mrs Deighton said the chamber was still looking into possible signage for the scheme and if the project was successful it could expanded next year.

Steve Robbins, chairman of the chamber, said Bridgnorth had suffered with parking problems in the town on Saturdays for a long time.

"It is probably the biggest concern expressed by our members and we need to explore ways of solving the problem," he said.

"Ignoring it is not an option if we are going to see growth for traders.

"We have the flexibility to put on additional minibuses if required and we will closely monitor the trial to see how it affects parking in the town, traffic congestion and of course trade."

Mr Robbins said concerns had been raised within the chamber about the potential negative impact some businesses could feel once the scheme was launched.

He said "I am very aware of the concerns but the chamber has no wish to damage the trade of any individual business.

"There will be close scrutiny to ensure that is not happening. If we do see a problem, we will look to address it but our aim is for the park and ride to make Bridgnorth a more attractive proposition for shoppers, and increase visitors to the town, to the benefit of all."