A two month extension is to be given to a park and ride site in South Ribble into Preston.

Lancashire County Council is looking to extend the contract with Preston Bus for the Walton-le-Dale park and ride.

It wants to give more time for a sustainable plan for the service to be drawn up.

The council agreed in July 2017 to subsidise the service for six months – after Preston Bus said they couldn’t run it on a commercial basis.

Extending the contract would cost the council £7,100 and ensure the service until the end of March in 2018.

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Cabinet member for highways and transport councillor Keith Iddon said: “The Park and Ride site behind the Capitol Centre at Walton-Le-Dale is close to the M6 and M65, giving people the opportunity to avoid the stress of parking in the city centre and complete their journey by bus.

“It offers a good quality service with buses running every 10 minutes during peak times, and every 15 minutes at other times.

“It’s very well located for anyone travelling into the city centre from the south and makes an important contribution towards reducing congestion in the centre of Preston.

“As the report to cabinet sets out, the annual net cost of running the site and bus service is currently around £42,700, and officers have been working over recent months to reduce this by increasing income, and cutting the costs of managing the site.

“Some of these solutions have already been put in place, but we’re proposing to allow more time to investigate further potential cost savings, and assess the impact of recent marketing activities, before making a decision about the operation of the service beyond the end of the current financial year.”

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A spokesman for Preston Bus said: “We support this decision which will allow for more time for a permanent solution to be found.”

Parking at Walton-le-Dale is free, with a return adult fare into Preston costing £1.50 and children go free.

Extended hours are being run approaching Christmas for late-night shopping on Wednesdays and Thursdays with the last bus at 9pm.

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