Cambridgeshire County Council has confirmed that an upgrade at a Park and Ride car park will open at the end of this month.

More car parking spaces are set to become available by late-September at the St Ives Park and Ride site.

Electric vehicle charging facilities will also become available to use later on in 2024 as a result of the new Smart Energy Grid. Solar canopies have been installed over a section of the car park to create the grid.

The grid will not only power the electric vehicle charging. It will also feed into the local grid and provide power to local customers.

The St Ives Park & Ride Smart Energy Grid will start with up to 10 electric vehicle charging points which will be powered by the solar canopies.

There is provision for up to 100 EV charging points on the site. As demand for EV charging increases locally, more charge points can be installed with minimal disruption to those using the site.

CCTV has also been put in place across the site to discourage anti-social behaviour at the car park.

Costs on the project totalled £5.6m and were part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund which was awarded before the EU-exit agreement. 

The project will pay for itself with revenue from energy creation over its lifetime and create revenue for the county council to help fund its services. 

Chair of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Environment and Green Investment Committee, Councillor Lorna Dupre said: "We’d like to thank local people for their understanding whilst works have been ongoing and the amount of space for parking has been reduced.

She said that the project has faced delays due to Covid-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but parking will now be re-opened as soon as possible.