WEST Yorkshire's Mayor has said she understands the "frustration" of commuters after work on a station car park is finally due to begin - 18 months after the original predicted end date.

Work to create a multi storey car park at Steeton and Silsden Rail Station will finally begin next month, and is expected to last a year.

The work will increase parking spaces at the station by 102 spaces - to provide a total of 245 spaces.

The station car park is regularly full before 9am, and there have been calls for better parking facilities there for years.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority, which is funding the project, has said the new facilities would encourage more people to travel by rail.

When the project was first announced, the forecast end date was October 2020.

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But the scheme was beset by delays, and at a Combined Authority meeting in late 2020 it emerged that the cost of the scheme had risen from £3,879,000 to £4,630,800. Members were also told the work would not likely be complete until January 2022.

That timetable has since been rearranged again, and now work is due to start this month and be completed in March 2023.

Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin said: “As a passionate advocate of rail travel and a commuter myself, I understand the frustration commuters have felt due to the slow progress on the Steeton and Silsden Railway Station car park. I can appreciate however that improvements, like this one, can sometimes be met with significant obstacles and problems.

“I am however very pleased to be able to tell the people who use Steeton and Silsden Railway Station that we can now start the important improvements to parking at this station.

“In the Climate and Environment Plan for West Yorkshire, I launched last year, I committed to deliver a net zero carbon economy by 2038 at the latest. The work at Steeton and Silsden Railway Station will help reduce congestion and improve local air quality, which makes us one step closer to our economic ambition. “It also goes without saying that improved ease of access to public transport enhances people’s employment, training, and apprenticeship opportunities and of course their leisure activities. I welcome these improvements.”

Construction of the new car park will mean closing the existing main car park for the 12 month construction period.

A portion of the overflow car park will remain open to station visitors, with approximately 40 spaces available. As there will be limited parking availability throughout the construction period, the Combined Authority is urging station users to consider alternative arrangements and, where possible, to walk or cycle to the station.