INVESTIGATION: 2 of 3 Partners in Park and Ride Partnership Blame Southampton City Council for Being "Not Good Enough"

When given the right of reply, both Bluestar bus company and University Hospitals Southampton, have passed the buck to Southampton City Council for the failings of the Park and Ride service. 

Andrew Pope wrote to all three partners in the Park and Ride, offering a Right of Reply to his criticisms following his very long campaign to deliver a Park and Ride for Southampton.

Corporate Affairs at University Hospitals Southampton (UHS) has written to Andrew Pope:

"With regards to the Park & Ride:

The Park & Ride operates for the use of UHS staff from Monday to Friday. Southampton City Council promotes the use of the service at weekends for the public so we would direct you to the Council for any questions you have about that."

The General Manager of Bluestar replied:

"We operate the P&R under contract to the city council.  A such, it is the council that have designed and procured the service and pay for it.

You will need to speak to the council for the finer details, but I understand they have an agreement with the hospital to use their car park at weekends.

It is of course a trial, so perhaps more permanent signage will come if it becomes a permanent park and ride.  I have seen various adverts around the city and online for the service, and I also heard a radio advert for it recently too."

Andrew, who is a member of the Independent Network, says:

 

Andrew Pope
Photo: Southampton Independents

"I campaigned for over a decade for a Park and Ride here in Southampton, and we now have one for hospital staff during Monday to Friday. 

I repeatedly pressured the Council, bus companies and hospital for aspirations in strategy documents to be turned into reality.

Over the weekend we have the PR1 service for the public to the City Centre and on Saints home games, PR2 for football fans to St Mary's Stadium.

I am pleased to have initiated this campaign when I chaired the Council's Inquiry into hospital transport. But it was a long and hard fight, which ended after I spoke up about the Park and Ride at the Planning Meeting in 2025 where I spoke up for residents who live near the hospital.

So I was disappointed to see that it was not good enough. And I gave the right of reply to all three partners to my criticisms, in the spirit of partnership and to try to improve it.

So I am now further disappointed to get buck-passing and blaming of the Council. 

That is not in the spirit of partnership. I want these partners to work together to deliver what is needed to keep cars out of Southampton and reduce traffic, not to blame each other.

It echoes the previous disasters of the Capita contract that was scrapped in 2018 the Tory councillors wanted to keep it - and the Balfour Beatty road contract which I would like to scrap but Labour and Tory councils have continued to carry on, despite its many failings and constant complaints from residents, which I totally agree with."

Independent Network emblem

 

Andrew Pope investigated the new Park and Ride that he had campaigned on for many years. He published his findings on the Southampton Independents website, and wrote a letter to the Daily Echo, saying that what has been done is "not good enough", which was published.

Andrew also wrote to the three "partners" in the "partnership" for the Park and Ride:

1. Bluestar bus company
2. University Hospitals Southampton, which runs Southampton General Hospital
3. Southampton City Council's Cabinet Member for Transport, Labour Councillor Christie Lambert

Bluestar responded very quickly, claiming that the Park and Ride was a "trial". This was not clear in the Council's communications about the service.

Councillor Christie Lambert took two months to reply, and provided a rather feeble response, failing to answer the many points that Andrew had pointed out. She then quit as Cabinet Member for Transport.

The UHS Chief Executive Officer David French did not provide a reponse, neither did the officer understood to be his PA. Andrew had previously corresponded with Mr French over the Park and Ride.

Park and Ride - New Labour Cabinet Member for Transport Takes Two Months To Reply - AND THEN QUITS!

 

Southampton's Weekend-only Park and Ride bus

 

Andrew Pope says: 

 

"What was good about Christie Lambert's very late answer was that she said that she was committed to a Park and Ride. 

But obviously she was not committed enough to the Park and Ride to stay in the Cabinet Member role to get the Park and Ride right before her departure.

She is still a councillor and Deputy Leader, so I expect her to ensure that I get answers to my questions now from her or her replacement, after nearly three months of patience. 

Other councillors know, and residents know, that I am an annoyingly persistent and experienced campaigner. 

I would not have won this 12-year campaign for Southampton, and visitors to our City, otherwise!"

 

Andrew speaking to BBC South Today

 

Winning the Park and Ride Campaign 

Our co-founder Andrew Pope initiated his campaign for a Southampton Park and Ride over 12 years ago, when he led a Council inquiry into hospital transport.

He kept up the pressure by calling in the bus companies and held hospital senior management to account to their "strategy" documents, including successive chief executives, over those years.

The hospital management kept their promise of a staff Park and Ride.

Andrew kept up the pressure for a public Park and Ride, because residents kept complaining about City centre congestion, including when Saints FC were at home.

And hospital parking, including staff parking on a wide area across Southampton near the hospital, both continued to be a problem.

Yet the Council continued to not deliver this public Park and Ride.

Then, when Andrew attended a Council Planning meeting, he continued the pressure by asking "Where is the Park and Ride?" to Labour councillors.

He had also called for the Labour Cabinet Member for Transport, Eamonn Keogh, to be sacked, in a letter to the Daily Echo. Keogh was sacked and replaced by Councillor Christie Lambert. 

As if by magic, the public Park and Ride happened shortly after.

 

Making Improvements

But the weekend Park and Ride, in Andrew's opinion, the Park and Ride that the Council, Bluestar and hospital had delivered was not good enough.

So he went and checked. And checked again.

Then he wrote into the Daily Echo, who published his letter, pointing out the shortfalls.

He wrote to the new Cabinet Member Christie Lambert with some questions, and a copy of the letter.

And he wrote to Bluestar, and the hospital Chief Executive, giving them a right of reply.

 

No Response from the Cabinet Member

Bluestar responded and said that "obviously" the Park and Ride was a "trial". This was never communicated to the public in the Council press release.

The hospital Chief Executive did not respond, which sadly was the level of response of previous chief executives at the first attempt on a range of issues that Andrew raised with them.

And the Labour Cabinet Member for Transport did not respond.

For two months.

And then, days before Christmas 2025, she finally answered and apologised for the delayed response.

Then it was reported in local media that she had quit from the role of Cabinet Member.

So she has been given the opportunity to answer again, including of whether this was a "trial".

INVESTIGATION: Empty Park and Ride Buses "Not Good Enough" says Campaigner Andrew Pope

 

Southampton Public Park and Ride Bus at Adanac Park
Photo: Southampton Independents

Campaigner and Founder of Southampton Independents Andrew Pope went along to investigate the new Park and Ride for the public to use at the weekend, to see if it met his expectations, having campaigned for it for over a decade. 

His letter was published in the Southern Daily Echo on Monday 13th October 2025.

Bluestar buses, the Chief Executive of University Hospitals Southampton and Southampton City Council's Cabinet Member for Tranposrt, Councillor Christie Lambert, have been offered the opportunity to comment. At the time of writing, only Bluestar have responded.

 

Andrew Pope Park and Ride Letter in Southern Daily Echo
13th October 2025 

The full text of the letter is below. 

 

Former Councillor Andrew Pope Speaking to BBC South Today

 

Park and Ride Not Good Enough  

"As a long-term campaigner for a better Southampton for residents and visitors, I was very pleased that a campaign that I began in 2013 has been successful.

A Southampton Park and Ride is finally here, after years of road chaos and pollution caused by visitors and workers who do not live here.

Bluestar and the Hospital were always helpful in this campaign. Southampton City Council dithered and delayed for over a decade.

So I had to remind councillors at the recent Planning meeting about the delay. It seems to have worked, as weeks after my speech there, and after such a long delay, it finally happened.

And now it is here, but it is not good enough. Now it is here and it has to be made to work, and work all week, not just at weekends.

So when I checked up on the actual Park and Ride that is operating over the past few weeks, I was concerned to see the poor promotion of it. And almost empty or completely empty buses, which I confirmed with the drivers.

Yes, it will take time for people to start to use it, and it is early days, only a month in.

But the signage and information, marketing and promotion need to be improved dramatically, and quickly.

It all seemed to be reliant on online information, and obviously that is no good for someone who is driving.

Apart from a tiny sign on a lamppost, there was no information at Adanac Park about fares, parking costs, how to get a ticket, or who to get it from.

And there were no signs on the M271 telling passengers to go off at Junction 1. I noticed this, and so did the bus drivers, who said they had told bus management. 

So Park and Ride passengers would be confused and annoyed, and either end up at Romsey, back on the M27 or in Southampton - defeating the purpose of a Park and Ride completely!

I can hear the lame excuses from the Council already, saying that the M271 is Highways Agency or part of a road is Hampshire County Council. Frankly, I don't care about passing the buck, I heard that countless times when I was a councillor for eight years. 

It's the Council's job to co-ordinate in any partnership arrangement.

Fixing all of the above will improve passenger numbers, visitor satisfaction and drive Southampton towards a permanent and daily Park and Ride, something our City badly needs. I will carry on campaigning."

Southampton Independents Emblem

CAMPAIGN VICTORY: Twelve Years Later, Southampton now has a Park and Ride!

Former Southampton City Councillor Andrew Pope

Southampton finally has a Park and Ride for members of the public to use!

It has taken twelve years, and a lot of campaigning work and pressure, but it is finally here, as confirmed on the Southampton City Council website.

The Park and Ride has been a long time coming. Twelve years!

Campaigner and founder of Southampton Independents Andrew Pope started the campaign for a Southampton Park and Ride twelve years ago, back in 2013, when he was still a Labour Councillor on Southampton City Council and Parliamentary Candidate in the 2015 General Election for the New Forest East Constituency.

Andrew says:

"I am delighted to deliver another campaign win that benefits the people of Southampton, to reduce the chaos on our roads, to improve the air quality of our City, and to welcome visitors to Southampton in an orderly and sensible way.

This Park and Ride should have been delivered ten years ago, but as I said at the Council's Planning meeting recently, the Labour-run Council kept writing it in strategy documents but delivered nothing. 

So I had to keep up the pressure with various actions. That is what a campaign needs.  

Of course back in 2018 I realised that suggesting Lidl should pay for it was not a realistic suggestion, but it kept the issue in the headlines of the Daily Echo and put a focus on the issues in that part of the Redbridge ward that I used to represent on the Council.

 

Lidl Construction on Brownhill Way

The Inquiry that I ran in 2013 put pressure on the Hospital to deliver, as did my meeting with the Chief Executive and senior staff. They kept their promise to my Committee. I thanked Hospital staff for that back then and I thank them again now. 

A Park and Ride for hospital staff was a good start. What was needed was one for the public.

During the Shirley by-election in 2024 for which I stood as an Independent candidate, I heard so many Shirley, Coxford and Maybush residents complaining to me on their doorsteps, about hospital parking impacting their area, from Upper Shirley all the way to Wimpson Lane. Park and Ride would help. 

And now, there is a weekend Park and Ride.

It will be interesting to see how this can be made to work well, and then to operate it all week. Southampton needs this. 

As I did with my successful 7-year safe standing campaign and the years-long campaign for sprinklers in all Council tower blocks, I have showed that I deliver for Southampton, no matter what it takes or how long it takes.

I hope that I can continue to inspire other independent campaigners to act for our City, including those who saw me speak at the Planning meeting."

Andrew Pope's Safe Standing Campaign front-page of the Daily Echo

Andrew Pope's Sprinkler Campaign front page in the Daily Echo

Details of Weekend Park and Ride

Southampton City Council's website states:

"Avoid city centre traffic and enjoy easy travel with Southampton’s new Park & Ride service, running on weekends and public holidays. Simply park your car in the car park at the Adanac Health & Innovation Campus multi-storey and hop on a bus to the city centre. It is quick, convenient, and great value!

The car park is accessed from Adanac Drive, SO16 0AZ and is open from:

    6:30am to 9pm on Saturdays
    8.30am to 7pm on Sundays and bank holidays (except for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day)

Buses will run every:

    20 mins from 7am to 7pm on Saturdays
    30 mins from 7pm to 8.30pm on Saturdays
    20 mins from 9am to 6pm on Sundays and bank holidays"

 

The Details of the Twelve Year Campaign 

In 2012-2013, as Chair of the Council's Health Overview Scrutiny Panel (HOSP), Councillor Pope ran an Inquiry into transport at the hospital, and saw the need for a Park and Ride for Southampton. He confirmed the plans of the Hospital for a Park and Ride for the hospital in his report in 2013 titled "REPORT OF HEALTH OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY PANEL PUBLIC AND SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT PROVISION TO SOUTHAMPTON GENERAL HOSPITAL – MINI REVIEW".

In the Recommendations of the Inquiry as outlined in the report:

"The (Hospital) Trust confirmed they had been working to improve transport related issues around the hospital such as hospital parking, park and ride, encouraging cycling and provision of shower facilities." 

Councillor Pope confirmed with the Hospital that they would be:

"Procuring and partnering with local organisations to provide staff with 2 x Trust subsidised Park & Ride services with parking for nom’ 320 staff, removing those cars from the hospital site and also local Southampton road networks." 

Then, after authoring the Labour Council's 2014 Local Election Manifesto, when he left Labour shortly after the 2015 General Election as reported by the Daily Echo, Andrew kept up the pressure on the Park and Ride as the first Southampton Independents councillor on Southampton City Council.

 

Independent Councillor Andrew Pope on BBC South Today

Pope met with the then Chief Executive of the Hospital to discuss the Park and Ride and other issues around the hospital such as parking problems, transport and litter in the area. He later attended another meeting with other Hospital staff to discuss their concrete proposals for a Park and Ride for hospital staff, following up on the promise from the Inquiry that he ran. 

Pope had also listened to the concerns of residents over transport in the City during his entire time as a councillor for eight years, and standing in the 2017 General Election as a Southampton Independents candidate.

 

Southampton Independents Campaigners During the 2017 General Election

 

That Park and Ride later became operative, running - not entirely coincidentally - from near to the new Lidl on Brownhill Way. 

But this was not the end of the campaign. Southampton's residents, the quality of our City's air and visitors to Southampton needed a Park and Ride. 

The regular chaos on Southampton's roads proved how badly the Park and Ride campaign was needed.

 

Keeping Up The Pressure in 2025 

Pope's most recent action on the Park and Ride was when he spoke up, not as a councillor but as a concerned campaigner, on behalf of local residents at the Council's Planning Committee to object to the lack of parking in a proposal to redevelop the derelict Bridge Tavern on Coxford Road, very close to the Southampton General Hospital. 

He mentioned the park and ride when he spoke at the public meeting, and in a statement given to all councillors at the meeting, kept up the pressure:

"Where is Southampton's park and ride for the general public? The one for the staff is a start, but it isn't anywhere near enough. The hospital parking is still a massive problem for Shirley, Coxford and Maybush residents. Until the park and ride is there, the hospital will still be impacting on residents." 

And now, the Park and Ride is finally here!

This is what Southampton Independents and Andrew Pope do - deliver for Southampton.

 

 

Where is the Southampton Park and Ride? Our Campaign Goes On...

 

Another Southampton Independents Campaign

Unlike Portsmouth and Winchester, Southampton does not have a park and ride for the general public to use.

Southampton Independents has been campaigning for one for years, but the City Council has failed to deliver it.

There is one for staff of Southampton General Hospital. It was built after we met with hospital management years ago, after we had called for a park and ride, and after an inquiry into hospital travel.

And there is something calling itself Southampton Park and Ride, but this is for cruise passengers only.

So despite our long-running campaign, there is still not a Park and Ride for the general public to use.

An ideal site would be at the north-western edge of the City, near to the M271 and not far from the M27. This is where the Hospital staff Park and Ride is located, on Brownhill Way, near the Lidl warehouse and Lidl store.

In 2018, campaigner and former Independent Councillor Andrew Pope called for Lidl to pay for a park and ride, as they were building a store to add to the large warehouse in the same area. He told the Daily Echo:

Andrew Pope

"I want to see what Lidl is going to do for local residents, because Lidl will be making lots of money, so they have to deliver benefits such as improved transport links, a new park and ride, and finally deliver on the promise of sustainability including solar panels on top of the huge local warehouse.

The Labour Council has to make Lidl do this.

Residents and the local area must benefit from the new store, if it goes ahead.”

Lidl on Brownhill Way, Southampton

Councillor Pope also wrote to the Daily Echo about the lack of a Southampton park and ride, and his letter was published. It is copied below.

And in 2013, Councillor Pope led an inquiry into "Public and Sustainable Transport Provision to Southampton General Hospital". This inquiry considered the problem of the volume of car traffic caused by staff at the hospital and its impact on local residents and local streets. It found the huge impact that the hospital has on travel within and around the City of Southampton:

"The Hospital has up to a total of 7500 staff, a number of these work shifts or

are on call. In addition there are University employees and students who

regularly have needed to visit the SGH site. By the size and nature of the

Hospital and its activities, the Trust is one of the major employers in

Southampton. In addition there are in the region of 600,000 patient visits

per annum."

Pope's Inquiry called in local bus companies and hospital staff to give evidence, and recommended that the hospital fully reviewed its Travel Plan. Recommendations were made to the Council and the Cabinet Member for Transport accepted all of the recommendations.

Yet eleven years later, there is still no Park and Ride.

Andrew says: 

"We've listened to residents and businesses who are fed up with the constant road chaos caused by Councillor Eamonn Keogh and the Labour-run Council failing to take the action that works. In fact, Keogh has constantly caused chaos instead of reducing it. 

Southampton Independents will carry on our campaign for a Park and Ride for Southampton. Get in touch to give us your support and your views on it."

READER LETTER: Cllr Andrew Pope: 'No park-and-ride, no clean air and no leadership at city council'

RESIDENTS are fed up with the lack of action on clean air from successive administrations of both Southampton City Council and the government.

All we hear about are task forces, networks and strategies.

As your editorial rightly points out, it seems that drastic action is now needed. Why? Because over so many years – decades residents tell us – all they've offered is talk and delay. And they are only talking about drastic measures now because the courts are forcing them to.

No park-and-ride like other local cities. No clean air. No leadership. And the council approves more warehouses and HGVs and brings more pollution from the sea, from the land and from the air.

All their pathetic measures have delivered thus far are more illness and death.

This is proven by the council's own reports, including one that went to cabinet on Tuesday when it considered the Clean Air Zone. It states that parts of Southampton, and Redbridge in particular, have respiratory illnesses above the average for Southampton, including for children at our local schools that are next to major roads.

Once again, it is Labour or Tory, same old story. It is no wonder, then, that both the Labour and Tory leaders were both voted out at the council elections last month.

Labour almost lost the Redbridge seat to Southampton independents and control of the council. There were only 199 votes that prevented both from happening.

Nobody cares really who pays for the measures, but it should not be those who can least afford it.

Don't residents and businesses pay enough council tax and business rates already?

Councillor Andrew Pope

Southampton independent councillor for Redbridge Ward

CAMPAIGN VICTORY: OUR CAMPAIGNING FORCES LABOUR TO SAY NO TO CHARGING PRIVATE CARS

Is this another part of
Labour's Highway Robbery?

UPDATE (29th August 2023): A new article is now published with updates on the London measures imposed by Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. We continue our campaign for a Park and Ride for Southampton, after our success of campaigning for and achieving one for the staff at University Hospital Southampton.

---

Victory (9th October 2018): As reported in the Daily Echo, the Labour Council has been forced to climb down from their plans to charge vehicles. and the so-called "Green" Clean Air Southampton campaigners, have failed in their bid to make Southampton residents pay.

Update: At Full Council on Wednesday 19th September, as reported by the Daily Echo, our Councillor Andrew Pope repeatedly asked the Leader of the Labour-run Council, Councillor Chris Hammond, to rule out charging private cars.

Councillor Hammond repeatedly refused to rule it out.

Southampton Independents to Campaign for a Referendum on Charging

Councillor Pope announced that Southampton Independents will be campaigning for a referendum. He says:

"Southampton Independents supports residents in their opposition to charging.

No Southampton resident should be charged as part of a Clean Air Zone, congestion charge or any other similar charge.

We totally oppose charging Southampton residents.

So if the Labour-run Council want to introduce any charging, they must allow Southampton residents to vote on it first.

Other Independent councillors seemed to support my suggestion.

I have asked the Leader of the Conservative Group whether he supports a referendum. He would not commit to it without speaking to other Conservative councillors first, which I suppose is fair enough. I will await his response when he has spoken with them.

And to add insult to injury, when I asked her, Labour's Cabinet Member for Road Chaos, Councillor Jacqui Rayment, refused to stop charging people for crossing the Itchen Bridge Toll. This is despite the fact that the Labour Council is doing this for electric vehicles.

If they can end the toll for electric vehicles, they can end the toll for ALL VEHICLES. But they don't want to, because they want to keep taking your money.

And charging vehicles as part of any Clean Air Zone or other scheme will be another way for Labour to rob you on the highways.

It is Labour's Highway Robbery."

If you are opposed to any charging, let us know by getting in touch by email at sotonindies [at] gmail.com.

---

Would you support charging private cars to enter our City? In this Daily Echo article, Clean Air Southampton and Friends of the Earth are suggesting it.

Sadly the Labour Council Leader Chris Hammond does not rule it out in the article.

Councillor Andrew Pope says:

"In all of the conversations we have had on residents' doorsteps about pollution in Southampton, nobody has suggested that private cars should be charged.

Just who does "Clean Air Southampton" represent?

Southampton Independents is totally opposed to charging private cars in any Clean Air Zone.

Instead, residents want it, so we are campaigning for Park and Rides to be implemented. Labour and Tory councillors have done little to progress these in many years. We applaud the new hospital's Park and Ride at Nursling and have supported the planning application.

Southampton City Council should be taking action to get Park and Ride across the City, not charging private cars.

I am asking the Leader of the Council to rule out charging private cars, in a Formal Written Question at the September Full Council meeting."

Park and Ride or Clean Air Zone: SHOULDN'T YOU DECIDE?

Councillor Andrew Pope

The Daily Echo is reporting criticism of Southampton City Council's proposed "Clean Air Zone". 

Our Councillor Andrew Pope says:

"Southampton Independents is listening to your views.

Do you want a Clean Air Zone? The Labour Council and Tory Government think they can impose it on you and local businesses.

Do you want a Park and Ride? Residents tell us regularly that they do. And we are campaigning for it. The hospital have listened. But the Council hasn't listened or acted for you.

And the Council hasn't delivered a park and ride for you, despite lots of talk.

Businesses and the Tory MP for the East of the City (Royston Smith) think that the Labour Council's Clean Air Zone is a bad idea. Do you agree?

Yet according to the Labour-run Council, it is the Tory Government that is imposing the Clean Air Zone on Southampton. They've claimed they wouldn't be doing it otherwise.

Once again, it is a case of Labour or Tory, same old story, with adults and children continuing to suffer from air pollution and its affects on our health."

Leader of Southampton Independents

Our Leader Denise Wyatt Southampton Independents says:

"Once the Labour Council have pretended to listen to you and then approved this anyway, Labour councillors can easily change it to make you pay to use your car in our City, by simply asking the Government whether they can do it.

Southampton Independents has confirmed this with Council officers, and that they wouldn't need to ask you, the public. Do you think this is right? We don't.

We already pay enough for the reducing services and poor communication by the Council. People get bad services and can't contact the Council easily.

Where is our Park and Ride? Areas of the City such as Redbridge already have a higher-than-average level of asthma. This can't carry on. 

Tell us what you think."