Morpeth Station improvements on track
01 Aug 2019 ARCHIVED (over 3 months old) - view latest news
Work is on track to improve accessibility and create extra parking at Morpeth Railway Station.
While the station’s popularity continues to grow, with increased rail users and services, it is placing some additional pressures on parking in the surrounding area.
In response the county council is taking a number of steps to address the issues. It recently secured planning consent to create a new 26 space car park on land to the south of the station buildings, which will be in use by the end of the year.
The council is in dialogue with Network Rail to secure the use of additional land alongside its existing car park to increase its capacity.
Nearby, work will start in the near future on the old Goosehill School site to convert it into a public car park following the school’s relocation to Loansden in September.
Councillor Glen Sanderson, Cabinet Member for Environment and Local Services, said: “Morpeth Railway Station is a growing success story and over recent years we’ve worked hard to improve local transport provision in this area, including new cycling facilities and pedestrian crossings to help improve the links between the station and the town centre.
“We’ve already introduced a maximum 72 hour stay restriction in our car park at the station to help tackle the issue of people ‘garaging’ cars in the station car park and prioritise the use of available spaces for daily commuters.”
To meet the cost of creating extra parking capacity and to help manage demand for parking spaces, the council will be installing ticket machines in the County Council car park at the station during w/c 12th August with charging coming into effect from Monday 19th August.
The charges will be £3 per 24 hour period, which are the same cost as those already in place at the car park operated by Northern Rail. Three monthly, six monthly and annual car park passes are also available at significantly reduced rates (£64, £108 and £195 respectively) to help make parking more affordable for regular commuters.
To address issues around passengers parking in surrounding streets the council is also reviewing its existing signs to see if they can be more prominent to deter rail users from parking in nearby residential areas.
The council also wants to reassure residents that it will continue to work with the local community and other key stakeholders to consider whether any extra controls are needed.
Cllr Sanderson added: “The new car parking will create a great deal of extra capacity at the station and in the meantime we’ll continue to monitor the usage of the car parks and parking behaviours nearby. We’ll also increase the frequency of visits by our Civil Enforcement Officers while the new arrangements bed down.”
Morpeth Stobhill County Councillor John Beynon said: “It’s great news that the station is being used more and there’s extra facilities being created over the coming months that will benefit Morpeth and the surrounding area.
“I’d also like to reassure residents we’re well aware of issues in the streets around the station and are taking measures to stop illegal and anti-social parking.”