TRAVEL bosses say a park and ride hub to help ease the Marton Crawl doesn’t have a strong enough case to merit funding at the moment. 

An ambitious vision to create a Nunthorpe park and ride facility has been around for a number of years.

Imagery of what the “Roseberry Parkway” hub between Nunthorpe and Guisborough could look like was unveiled in 2019 – with the hope it could serve 70,000 people and divert 30,000 car journeys away from the infamous crawl every day. 

But a report to this week’s Tees Valley Combined Authority overview and scrutiny committee has shown funding for the scheme is still a major stumbling block. 

Officials were asked whether there were plans to develop a “parkway”.

The TVCA report added: “The TVCA position is that there is not currently a sufficiently strong case to justify investment in development work. 

“Our view is that the only way a parkway station in this location could potentially be viable is if it is considered as part of medium to long term growth aspirations in the vicinity of the proposed location.”

Officers added this would be needed to generate enough demand to make a parkway station viable. 

A park and ride rail station at Nunthorpe formed part of a ten-year transport plan unveiled by Middlesbrough Council in 2018 – with hopes to create the hub alongside Redcar and Cleveland Council and the TVCA. 

Drawings were unveiled the following year showing how a 21st century facility would bring trains, buses, cycling and parking together to serve Guisborough, East Cleveland, Stokesley, North Yorkshire villages and south Middlesbrough at a new railway station. 

Simon Clarke, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, suggested the Government’s “Levelling Up Fund” could be used to pay for the new Roseberry Parkway vision last year.

But former Redcar and Cleveland regeneration chief Cllr Wayne Davies didn’t think it was possible within the timescales imposed by the fund.

When it came to the TVCA’s position on the parkway, the Conservative MP said it was important to tackle the issues “that drive the Marton Crawl”. 

He also pointed to how he’d backed work at the Southern Cross junction and road widening at Stainton Way.  

Mr Clarke added: “Looking beyond this, an obvious solution is to try and get more people using public transport and a park and ride scheme makes sense given that we are fortunate to have existing rail links from Nunthorpe, through Marton, stopping at James Cook Hospital and into Middlesbrough town centre.

“Trying to make this an attractive commuter option is something I would love to see and I am delighted to have the practical support of Middlesbrough Council, Redcar and Cleveland Council and the TVCA to this end.

“That said, it has always been the case that a new park and ride station at Nunthorpe represents a multi-million pound project which would need a lot of work to unlock, and would rest on the economics of the passenger numbers making it realistic.

“The statement from TVCA reflects that this work – exploring all options – is still ongoing to give the project the best chance of becoming a reality.

“I shall be meeting the Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen as well as our council leaders to discuss this in the months ahead.”

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the parkway project remained part of the combined authority’s transport plans. 

He added: “Given it’s early stage and the work that still needs to be done, it’s a number of years away from coming to fruition.”

Both Middlesbrough Council and Redcar and Cleveland Council have been contacted for comment.