New car park at Burnley's Manchester Road railway station officially opened

The car park extension provides an extra 67 spaces and will relieve pressure on the existing 50-space car park.

Almost 500,000 people currently use Burnley Manchester Road every year, with passenger numbers increasing over the last decade as a result of recent investment in direct rail services to Manchester made possible by the reopened Todmorden Curve.

The car park extension is part of a £12m programme of improvements to travel in East Lancashire known as the Hyndburn-Burnley-Pendle Growth Corridor, which has seen investment to busy road junctions in the local area including Burnley's Rose Grove Lane / Accrington Road junction.

Funding for the Growth Corridor project has come from central government via Lancashire Enterprise Partnership’s £320m Growth Deal Fund, together with support from Lancashire County Council and Burnley, Pendle and Hyndburn councils.

Burnley Manchester Road station has been improved significantly in recent years with a new station building, secure car park with CCTV and new customer information systems. The role and function of the station has been transformed from a simple halt to a state-of-the art facility providing a modern gateway for East Lancashire - and the car park extension marks the next milestone in the station's ongoing development.

Coun. Afrasiab Anwar MBE, leader of Burnley Council, said: "The completion of this project marks the next milestone for Burnley's primary railway station, building on the improvements to the station facilities and direct services to Manchester, and setting the scene for the further 'Access for All' improvements which will see direct pedestrian access between platforms and other improvements, and which form part of our Levelling Up Fund programme approved last year."

Antony Higginbotham, MP for Burnley said: “Our local economic growth depends on having the right infrastructure to support businesses and encourage more people to choose Burnley as the place to live, work and study. Creating more spaces to park at Burnley Manchester Road, which is now our most used and modern rail station, is a small part of that.

"It will make it much easier for people to park up and commute to work or university, whilst keeping Burnley as their home. And it is another example of the investment we are making into local transport infrastructure.”

The new car park is covered by CCTV, with landscaped grassed areas planted with wildflower seeds. Work is due to take place later this year to provide extra disabled parking on the existing car park next to the station building.

The car park was once the site for Burnley Ambulance Station which was re-located to Burnley General Teaching Hospital.