| CLUB TO LAUNCH TRAVEL PLAN
(Monday 20th May 2002) 
The Club are set to launch a 'Travel Plan' that will be the key in persuading council chiefs to allow Adams Park to be used by Wasps Rugby Club for the next two seasons. The Club have drafted a 15 page document that was presented to councillors prior to the planning meeting on Monday 20th May.The key objectives of the plan include minimising the number of car movements by supporters travelling to home matches and to attempt to alleviate parking problems around the residential areas of Sands and the nearby industrial areas. The essential element of the plan is to make maximum use from the 800 car parking spaces at Adams Park. One proposal is to encourage car sharing for those using the 600 capacity upper car park. The Club currently charge £2 and the suggestion is that this is increased to £5 with a £1 discount for each passenger with a suitable car park voucher, up to a maximum discount of £3 (ie a car with three passengers would be charged £2). Other schemes being suggested include a new Park and Ride service from the training ground at Booker, or possibly, with the agreement of WDC, from other local car parks. The reasoning behind this is to try and encourage more supporters to visit Adams Park using buses for the final leg of the journey. Additional park and ride schemes will be provided for Wasps fans, with bus routes for Sunday matches from High Wycombe railway station and possibly from Amersham and Uxbridge stations. A postal survey of Wasps fans will be carried out to gauge their preferred method of transport from the choices available. Research has shown that 58% of Wasps supporters live in London and Middlesex, with the remaining coming from Surrey (9%), Kent (7%), Herts, Berks and Bucks (5% each). The remaining 11% being from other south eastern counties. The plan is assuming that Wasps fans will mostly travel by road because of the difficulty in using rail links from anywhere other than London. The Club will also be committing to engaging a consultant to review street parking restrictions in the Sands area at a cost estimated at £5,000. This will involve consultation with WDC and The Thames Valley Police. The Club also say they will have regular meetings with representatives of the residents of Sands. It's also recognised that there are serious problems for all trafic leaving Adams Park. The bottleneck at the mini-roundabout where Hillbottom Road joins Lane End Road is seen as the key to the this problem. At busy games cars can take as long as 30 minutes to leave Adams Park and a similar amount of time to clear the Handy Cross roundabout. The Club say that negotiations to restore police traffic control at the mini-roundabout have broken down but it's hoped that the consultant will re-open the dialogue and a solution of installing 'part-time' traffic lights may also be considered. The finalised Travel Plan will be published in time for the start of the new Football League season on 10th August. The Club hope to use the local media as well as their own official channels to help publisise the plan and car share schemes. Update: As expected the Council gave the OK for Wasps to use Adams Park for a two year period. Commenting on the Travel plan, Wanderers Chief Executive Simon Monkman said "The work starts now. The board have made slip-ups in the past, but I give my guarantee that Wycombe Wanderers are committed to harmonisation with the local community. We know that if we don't carry out the measures in the Travel Plan there is a heavy price to pay." Full story Council give OK to Wasps move Watch for all the latest news on this story here on chairboys.co.uk. See the links on the right for coverage of how the story has unfolded so far Click here to read all the latest Wycombe news |
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