More than half a million pounds extra could be spent on the troubled Winnersh Triangle park and ride car park due to building delays when it was being expanded.

The scheme to expand the car park has already cost at least £6.8 million, with Wokingham Borough Council hoping it would encourage more people to use the now-cancelled 500 bus service to Reading.

Work began in April 2021, adding an additional level to the bus service’s car park. But delays – including discovering an unmarked Thames Water watermain pipe – meant that the work took longer than expected.

Construction work on the car park has now finished – but it stands mostly empty as the bus service, which was suspended in November 2021, has not been reinstated.

Now, Wokingham Borough Council has said it has set aside £600,000 to pay for the extra costs – including compensation claims – stemming from the delays in construction.

Councillor Paul Fishwick, responsible for transport, said: “This project was stopped in the Autumn of 2021 under the previous Conservative administration due to a Thames Water main that affected the project.

“The scheme is now completed but the delays to the project have meant that the contractor has submitted compensation claims.”

He added that council officers were working to try and reduce the claim costs. But he added: “A provision of £600,000 has been included for the time being in case the Thames Water main does require diverting.”

READ MORE: Winnersh Triangle park and ride ‘too reliant on OAPs’, said official

The council and Reading Buses have already faced criticism for deciding not to reinstate the park and ride service despite expanding the car park especially to serve it.

Reading Buses said in May this year that it “lacks the means” to bring it back, claiming that there was a lack of demand to make the service worth running.

A freedom of information request by the Chronicle then revealed senior officers at Reading Borough Council – which owns Reading Buses – believed the service relied too much on old age pensioners to be worth running.

Meanwhile, Wokingham Borough Council said it couldn’t afford to provide the gap between the cost of running the service and the amount it would make – despite appeals from former users of the service.

Wokingham Borough previously funded an alternative park and ride, the 400, from Thames Valley Park, some four miles from Winnersh Triangle. But the service was scrapped in June 2022, with Reading Buses saying it wasn’t well used, and with the end of a funding deal from the council.