South West Surrey MP, Jeremy Hunt, Haslemere Mayor Melanie Odell and former Mayors and local Councillors converged recently on Haslemere railway station with Arthur Pretorius, Customer Service Director for South West Trains, to celebrate confirmation from South West Trains that they will be providing more than 100 additional car parking spaces at the station.
Over the last two years Jeremy Hunt and his council colleagues have campaigned and have been working with South West Trains to formulate and agree an action plan that would provide the extra parking spaces needed by residents using the busy station.
Also, importantly the extra spaces and structure needed to fit in with the town’s vision and needs from an aesthetic point of view. The result will be a new, single decked car park that will provide more than 100 additional spaces. The new ‘deck’ will cover the existing car park, located adjacent to Platform 1 and will offer improved security with upgraded CCTV cameras and new lighting. The new car park is subject to planning and environmental approval from local authorities and would provide over 100 new spaces. Provided full permission is granted, work will start on the new car park over the summer and be completed by the autumn.
Whilst construction work takes place, the existing car park will need to be closed. South West Trains will be carrying out an extensive information campaign advising passengers of alternative arrangements during the works.
Jeremy Hunt, MP for South West Surrey commented: “This is excellent news for Haslemere residents and commuters. It has been a long time in the making but we all saw the need for the extra spaces and I am delighted that we have been able to work with South West Trains to bring about our goal of more station parking. It will not only help train users and residents but will hopefully make Haslemere an even more attractive option for those London commuters looking to move or relocate to the area and allay their fears of not enough station parking.”
Haslemere Town Mayor, Melanie Odell added: “It is ten years since the then Mayor, Councillor Michael Dover sought to enlarge the parking facilities for Haslemere station and ever since then,
Haslemere Town Council has lobbied for more parking for our commuters. We are very pleased that we now see this project coming to fruition and would like to thank South West Trains for their investment in our town and all who have supported us for many years, especially our MP, Jeremy Hunt.”
Arthur Pretorius, Customer Service Director for South West Trains said: “We’re making huge investment in our car parks over the next year that will deliver major benefits for our customers.
“With over 1.7 million passengers now using Haslemere station every year, it’s vital that there is enough space for people to park. Improving the car parking capacity at this station has been a key priority for us and it’s great news that Haslemere station will be one of the stations to benefit from our multi-million pound car park investment programme.”
South West Trains announced in 2015 that it would be investing £50 million in customer improvements across the network as part of an agreement with the Department for Transport. This significant investment will see around 1400 extra car parking spaces introduced across eight key stations.