Visitors to Broadway, especially to the soon-to-be opened railway station, will be able to park without annoying residents.

Subject, of course, to planning approval.

Wychavon District Council’s executive board gave its enthusiastic backing for a plan put forward by the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway for the council to construct and run a pay and display car park on land owned by the railway across Station Road.

The authority will spend £650,000 on the plan if it is approved by its planning committee.

With the line from Toddington to Broadway nearly opened, and the station ready to receive visitors later this year, members of the Executive Board, and another councillors, thought this would be a very good thing for Broadway and the district’s economy.

Council leader, Councillor Linda Robinson allowed discussion of the matter, and the =decision, to be taken in open council, even though, because it involves revenues, it could have been done in closed session.

She said: “This is very good news., and I think we are very happy to support this. It is a wonderful way to bring more tourists to the district., and I hope that it will go even further than Broadway.”

The member with responsibility for resources and Streetscene, Councillor Lynne Duffy said: “I hope that a station car park will alleviate parking problems and we should also get a return on our investment.”

Councillor Paul Middlebrough had even greater ambitions for the railway than a success at Broadway Station. He said the council should try and help GWSR if it wanted to extend its line to Honeybourne and even as far as Kidderminster, connecting to the Severn valley railway, making the joint operation the largest steam railway in Britain.

Spokesman for GWSR Ian Crowder said: “That’s fantastic news. The last thing that we’d want is for visitors to the station to cause others annoyance by parking on the road.

“Until the car park is open we’d ask people who want to come to Broadway Station when it opens to park in the car parks in Broadway and not on the roads nearby. Or they can go to Cheltenham or Toddington and get the train from there.”

Passenger trains to Broadway are not able to run until the bridge is repaired after being struck by a lorry, causing £68,000 of damage.

The next step before the car park becomes a reality is for a planning application to be made to Wychavon District Council, which is expected in March.