Park and ride plans to solve ‘gridlock’ around Barnsley Hospital taking ‘longer than expected’

Data shows that the hospital made £860,000 from parking fees last year, and one opposition councillor has pushed for an update amid concerns about ‘gridlock’ around the hospital, as well as parking fees.

Lib Dem councillor Chris Wray asked for an update during yesterday’s (February 1) full council meeting, and told councillors that congestion around the hospital and parking fees are causing a ‘massive costs to residents’.

BMBC agreed to undertake a feasibility study in July 2022 – and a cabinet member says it is ‘taking longer than expected’.

Councillor James Higginbottom, cabinet member for environment and highways, told the meeting that a park and ride scheme is not a ‘silver bullet’ to solve parking and congestion issues – and that moving services away from the site may be a long-term solution.

“The detailed work on the feasibility study..has entailed a lot of data gathering, both from the council and Barnsley Hospital,” he added.

“All of that is time-consuming.

“My officers have had project meetings arranged to discuss progress and will update accordingly.

“We appreciate that this is set a longer than anticipated but where information has not been available, consultants have had to do the necessary work to ensure that the study is robust.

“The feasibility of a particular scheme alone is not going to be the silver bullet solution to the issues longer term.”

He added that the ‘ultimate solution’ would be reducing the amount of road traffic by ‘shifting as many services as we possibly can’ away from the site.

A spokesperson from Barnsley Hospital said that free parking was introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic, and charges were reintroduced in October 2021 for patients, and April 2022 for staff.

"The income for 2021/22 includes only five months of car parking income from patients and visitors and no income from staff, as they were still receiving free car parking at that stage,” they added.

“The charges for car parking at Barnsley Hospital have not increased since 2015 and remain competitive (and often lower) than other local NHS Trusts,” they added.