Decision details

To the Re-Opening of the Salisbury Park & Ride sites from 4 July 2020 following the easing of Government travel restrictions which are in place due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

This decision is being taken in accordance with the power referred to under background below. This decision will be reported to the next meeting of the Cabinet.


The Salisbury Park & Ride sites were temporarily closed after demand reduced significantly following the instruction by the Government for people to only make essential journeys to protect against the Covid-19 pandemic. Now that lockdown measures are being gradually lifted we expect demand for parking in Salisbury to increase and Park & Ride will again play an important role in the offering.

The Salisbury Reds bus company is in the process of revising all of its bus services to run at near normal levels, so the opportunity to again offer Park & Ride buses at acceptable frequencies is now open again.
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We believe that 4th July is the correct time to resume Park & Ride and to re-establish the habit among motorists of not driving into the city centre with all the congestion and pollution issues that brings with it as that is the date from which cafes etc are expected to re-open. This is also the date when roadworks in Wilton are scheduled to end, works which make the Wilton site operationally difficult to serve reliably at present.

Whilst we intend to re-open the Salisbury Park and Ride sites for business, we are unable to reopen the site at Bee Hive as it is currently being used as a Coronavirus testing facility and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

I confirm that in making this decision I have considered the following in line with Wiltshire Council’s Constitution:

Key decision requirements: Yes

Views of relevant cabinet member(s), committee chairman, area board(s): Yes


Consideration of the area boards and delegated decision checklist for officers on the issue of when and how to involve local councillors and area boards in decisions about local services: NA

Implication of any council policy, initiative, strategy or procedure: Yes

Consultation in accordance with requirements and expectations of consultation with the public: Yes

Range of options available: The alternative option is to keep the park & ride sites closed

Staffing, financial and legal implications: Yes

Risk assessment: Yes

Involvement of statutory officers and/or directors: Yes

Regional or national guidance from other bodies:Yes – latest statutory guidance from DFT for transport operators

The council’s constitution: Yes

Keeping the Park & Rides sites closed would be inconsistent with the fact that city centre car parks were open.

Re-open the Park and Ride sites with reduced frequency bus service (once per hour rather than every 15 minutes). This was felt to be inappropriate as a Park & Ride scheme needs a frequent bus service to be a credible alternative to City Centre parking.