New Barrhead train station car park plan moves forward as lease agreed

Plans for a car park as part of the £18 million development of a train station in Barrhead have progressed after a lease was agreed.

Network Road can take over council land on a 175-year deal to provide the parking area at the new Balgray station.

Two small pockets of land are also being handed over to Network Rail for a “nominal fee” to allow the project to move forward.

Both deals were approved by East Renfrewshire councillors. The 175-year lease has been agreed at a ‘peppercorn’ rent of £1 per year if asked.

A full business case for the station – located off Balgraystone Road, between Patterton and Neilston stations – will be submitted soon, with the whole project expected to be finished by spring 2026.

In a report to councillors, officials said the delivery of a new railway station on the Glasgow to Neilston line will “support the new community at Barrhead South and enhance sustainable travel options for existing and new residents”.

The report added the station will improve “access to jobs and services” and to the Dams to Darnley Country Park.

An access road and bus-turning circle have already been completed and the new station will also have two platforms on either side, linked by an overhead pedestrian bridge and lifts.

East Renfrewshire Council is providing £2.6m towards the project while around £15.7m is from the Glasgow City Region City Deal, an infrastructure programme funded by both the UK and Scottish governments.

The council is set to submit the full business case to the City Region’s programme management offices next month.

Just over two hectares of council land has already been transferred to Network Rail, but the “two additional small pockets” are also “required to allow construction and operation of the station”.

The council report added: “The lease will incorporate a clause where the council receives a share, to be negotiated, of any future income from any electric vehicle charging spaces and any future introduction of car-parking charges within the facility.”

Network Rail would have a right to purchase the land at the end of the lease, with the value to be determined at that time by a chartered surveyor.

If the station was to close or part of the car park “deemed surplus to requirements”, the land will be transferred back to the council.

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