Station car park

United57

Well-Known Forumite
Anybody know the date for the opening of the car park at the station. Signs have gone up and the lights are on.
 

basil

don't mention the blinds
Anyone know the purpose of the two whisks on top of said car-park?......
 

acpoynton

Well-Known Forumite
From Express & Star

Stafford’s station car park set to open
Tuesday 21st September 2010, 10:00PM BST.

The new three-storey car park at Stafford Railway Station is expected to be open within the next two to three weeks.
The £8.1 million car park in Station Road will provide 522 spaces – 272 more than was previously available.
Work started about a year ago on the scheme, funded by Network Rail, with Balfour Beatty as the main contractor.
Network Rail spokesman Keith Lumley said the car park was likely to open in early October.
He added that once the new car park was open for business, the north car park beyond the Mercedes car showroom will be closed for about four weeks.
The existing pay and display ticket machines will be removed and they will be replaced by pay-on-foot ticket machines and barriers.
CCTV will also be installed and the lighting will be improved and the surface will be re-lined.
“Finally, the car park immediately to the right of the station front, where the work site cabins are set up, will have pay-on-foot barriers installed.
“And that will also become the permanent location for the taxi rank,” explained Mr Lumley.
The new car park was designed to relieve pressure on nearby streets and car parks. The work at Stafford is part of a joint project between Virgin Trains and Network Rail to improve car parking at all 17 stations on the West Coast route that are managed by Virgin.
Original plans for the new car park opposite Victoria Park had to be amended.
The site falls within a conservation area and Network Rail’s original plan was branded a “monstrosity” by some members of Stafford Borough Council’s development control committee.
Network Rail did not require planning permission as it was on an existing main station car park and thus “permitted development”.
Part of the building nearest to the Newport Road bridge was reduced in height by 1.7 metres and the structure was moved 6.7 metres further away from the bridge.
The building is in brown and green colours to blend in with the park, including red cedar timber cladding and olive green mesh.
 

acpoynton

Well-Known Forumite
And from Network Rail

MORE CAR PARKING SPACES AT STAFFORD STATION
Friday 01 Oct 2010 09:00

Network Rail has confirmed that the new south car park for rail passengers using Stafford station will open on Monday 11 October. Work will then transfer to the north car park (beyond the Mercedes car showroom) for a further four weeks.
Jo Kaye, route director for Network Rail who built the car park, said: “Providing car parking at railway stations is all about true transport integration – passengers driving short distances to the station to then use the railway they rely on for the longer part of their journey.”
A new charging structure is also being introduced, offering substantial discounts over the full day rate for off peak and weekend users.
From 11 October all-day parking at Stafford will cost £8, and is the first increase in parking charges at the station for almost six years. New reduced off-peak parking charges will be available from 10:00 on weekdays costing £4 and a new weekend rate of £2 a day will apply. Monthly, quarterly, six monthly and annual season tickets are also available for regular peak time users, which have also been increased to align them pro-rata with the new daily rate. The new monthly ticket costs £98 effectively offering daily parking, based on 20 days use a month at just £4.90 a day. The annual ticket is prices at £980 and if used for just 45 weeks a year offers an equivalent daily parking rate of just £4.36 a day.
Virgin Trains station manager at Stafford Sheila Breeze said: “The limited parking facilities have caused problems for rail travellers in recent years. When work on upgrading the north car park is completed there will be 272 extra spaces and everyone should be able to find a parking space. The special off-peak rates should also appeal to shoppers and weekend travellers.”
The car park has a new ‘Pay on Foot’ payment system, where a ticket is issued on entry to the car park. Payment must then be made at the machine prior to customers returning to their car to leave the car park.
Once the multi storey car park is open, work will start on installing CCTV cameras, refurbishing the lighting and renewing the white lines in the north car park.
Finally, the ‘staff car park’ immediately to the right of the station will become the permanent location for the taxi rank
 

Wyred

Well-Known Forumite
basil said:
Anyone know the purpose of the two whisks on top of said car-park?......
Are they used for electricity generation? Runcorn station car park has the same whisks...
 

basil

don't mention the blinds
Are they going make giant omlettes for the early morning commuters?....
 

Sofa

I'm a Staffooooooordian
basil said:
Anyone know the purpose of the two whisks on top of said car-park?......
In case of attack by huge inverted bowls of single cream. The whisks can sort them out on the double.
 

shoes

Well-Known Forumite
Wow that's just shy of £30k per extra parking space available - it will take years for that to pay for itself, if it does at all.

Anyone wanna park on my driveway? Available from about 8.30 - 6.30 weekdays - your's for a meagre £25k :D
 

shoes

Well-Known Forumite
Sofa said:
basil said:
Anyone know the purpose of the two whisks on top of said car-park?......
In case of attack by huge inverted bowls of single cream. The whisks can sort them out on the double.
hahaha :clap:

have a point for that one!
 

United57

Well-Known Forumite
As we sre discussing omlettes, I have a lot of mushrooms growing in my garden. I need somebody to test them out first. They look like field mushrooms? Any offers or fungi specialists. Next door neighbour has Fly Agaric. I know they are very dangerous.
 

basil

don't mention the blinds
Try them out, if we've not heard from you in a couple of days we can reach our own conclusion :raise: .......
 

United57

Well-Known Forumite
If I said I thought they were Psilocybin mushrooms, I would have every local hippy trying them out.!
 

Jade-clothing

Well-Known Forumite
:) do you realise almost every thread on here degenerates into a chat about food lol

'The building is in brown and green colours to blend in with the park' !!!
Er - What building? I hadnt noticed it camouflaged by the trees :D
 

ATJ

Well-Known Forumite
That car park is a monstrosity. It's not even open and it already looks like a crack den.
 

zebidee

Well-Known Forumite
I never understand the current obsession for covering metal structures with wooden cladding and painting the concrete parts random pastel colours (besides the car park, has anyone seen any new schools built lately?) It looks hideous to me.
 

basil

don't mention the blinds
zebidee said:
I never understand the current obsession for covering metal structures with wooden cladding and painting the concrete parts random pastel colours (besides the car park, has anyone seen any new schools built lately?) It looks hideous to me.
That school on the old littleton colliery site? it could have been built using the same fabric as the new car-park...
 

UltraSBM

Not the official 2520th poster!
I, too, think it looks disgusting.
Maybe to comply with the DDA, the architects have employed some blind people to design the car park?
I wonder what the original design was if THAT was considered a monstrosity, but this one isn't!?

And how is £4.90 a day good value? It's cheaper than that at council car parks!

I'm sure people will still park by Castlefields and surrounding areas due to the costs (i.e. free).

Saying that, I wouldn't take the train anyway :)
 
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