Question on Postwick Park and Ride asked to NCC Cabinet on 5 June 2023
Question from Eleanor Laming
Cabinet agreed the Norfolk County Council Climate Strategy on 10 May 2023. How do the priorities outlined for decarbonisation of Norfolk’s transport sector align with the closure of the Postwick Park and Ride, which if reinstated using a suitable business case and sufficient advertising would contribute to reduction of carbon emissions?
Response from the Cabinet Member for Environment and Waste / Highways Infrastructure and Transport
We fully recognise the role that the Park & Ride service, including that from Postwick, can fulfill for our Climate Strategy. This must be measured against the comparatively low patronage that Park and Ride has experienced post-pandemic and re-opening the site and service would add up to £200k to the subsidy that Norfolk County Council have had to find since the pandemic to open and run the other sites. We have every intention of re-opening the site once passenger numbers on the P&R service as a whole have recovered to 75% of pre-covid levels, which will ensure that we have sufficient funds to run all the sites.
Supplementary Question from Eleanor Laming
Why did the bid for Bus Service Improvement Plan Funding in 2022 not include a funding request to help reinstate Postwick Park and Ride?
Response from the Cabinet Member for Highways, Infrastructure and Transport
A key criteria for Bus Service Improvement Plan funding, set by the DfT was that it could not be used to subsidise services that had been commercially viable and were now struggling and at risk of withdrawal. As the P&R service was commercially run by the bus operator before the pandemic, the funding and therefore the Plan could not be used to reinstate the Postwick P&R service.
