WORK on a new 333-spaced car park adjacent to Kemble train station has begun, following years of campaigning.

The new car park is a result of a bid by First Great Western that secured £145,000 of funding from the Department of Transport’s Station Development Facility.

The project was supported by Mr Clifton-Brown, who lobbied the government on the extension.

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown was joined at the station by site manager Lee Jones, parish council chairman Roger Pettit and First Great Western representatives Matt Barnes and Adrian Gilby.

The station's usage has more than doubled since 2012 and in recent years the disruption of poor car parking capacity and further redoubling work has slowed additional growth.

Commenting on the commencement of work the MP said: "I am delighted that after years of hard work and perseverance by myself, Cllr Pettit and First Great Western that the much-needed car park extension has come to fruition.

"Hopefully, this will be the beginning of further transport growth in the constituency, which will strengthen our local economy.

"Not only will this be excellent news for commuters but hopefully it will begin to solve the long running problem of commuters parking cars and blocking gateways and streets in the village of Kemble."

Cllr Pettit said: "Starting work on constructing a new station car park is great news for our village residents and for commuters.

"The capacity of the existing car park has been outgrown and commuter parking on village streets has become a major problem for us.

"Fully supported by our MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, County Councillor Shaun Parsons and District Councillor Tony Berry we have been working on a solution with GWR for a very long time.

"This scheme should meet requirements for the foreseeable future.

"Once it is up and running car parking for users of our station will cease to be a problem and restrictions can be introduced in the village to prevent any nuisance parking by commuters. "