Plans for dealing with traffic at a ground breaking new medical college in Bolton could include a shuttle bus service from the town centre.

The £20m project, one of the most ambitious launched in the borough in recent years, will see a state-of-the-art training facility known as the Bolton College of Medical Sciences (BCMS) built on the grounds of Royal Bolton Hospital.

The developers behind the idea have now lodged a travel plan which sets out a range of ways the college will be made accessible to the public while avoiding congestion in the area around the hospital’s Minerva Road, Farnworth base.

Project director Mark O’Reilly said: “Parking is something we’ve worked very hard on to ensure that we’re minimising the impact on local residents and hospital patients.”

The Bolton News: The travel plan has been approved by Bolton CouncilThe travel plan has been approved by Bolton Council (Image: Bolton College of Medical Sciences)

He added: “My daughter was born there, and went to school at Mount St Joseph and I've lived just round the corner.

"Many of the project team live in Farnworth and we are acutely aware of the issues people have had.”

Mr O’Reilly said the plans would see a "net positive" of around 275 parking spaces added to the Minerva Road site, while the new travel plans have looked at how public transport will be used to get people to and from the college.

He said: “There are plans for the university to run a shuttle bus, we’ve had that discussion just this week.”

He explained that this new bus would be run from Bolton town centre to take people to the new college, which would be useful to its largely local intake of students.

The Bolton News: An artist's impression of how the finished college will look An artist's impression of how the finished college will look (Image: Bolton NHS Foundation Trust)

Mr O’Reilly said: “The majority of the people who are training there are already working at the hospital so those training nurses who will be coming into BCMS will be going to the place where they already work.”

The college, a collaboration between the University of Bolton, Bolton College, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and the council, has already been given the go-ahead to proceed and when finished is expected to train around 3,000 students every year.

The travel plan, which was approved by the council earlier in January, will also include electric car charging points along with around 60 covered cycle stands with showers and changing facilities within the building.

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The planners are also working on a car sharing scheme, according to University of Bolton director of strategic property projects Carl Hosker.

He said: “The site presents an opportunity for us to encourage users of BCMS to car share so that’s something we really will be encouraging.”

The medical college is currently due to open in 2024.