A park and ride service is to be started in Walsall for the first time to lure shoppers back into the town centre.

The crippling roadworks on the ring road and competition from bustling retail centres such as Birmingham and Telford means fewer people have been heading into the town to shop.

Now it is planned to create the town’s first park and ride along the A34 Birmingham Road between Walsall and Birmingham.

The pilot project is expected to see cars park on the Aston University site on the Walsall and Sandwell border and catch regular buses into the town centre.

If successful, it could then be rolled out to the A454 Wolverhampton Road, A461 Lichfield Road and the Stafford Street-Bloxwich Road, which are also among the borough’s most heavily congested routes.

Drivers had two years of misery on town roads during the multi-million pound extension of the ring road, while traders were badly hit as shoppers avoided negotiating the network of cones.

The road project was hit by delays and is not expected to end until February, but the park and ride scheme is hoped to draw people back once work is completed.

People are to be consulted on proposals and it is hoped the service could be implemented in the new year.

At this stage no firm timescale or fixed details have been set but the matter is due to be discussed by Walsall Council’s Cabinet next month.

The aim is to cut traffic on the road linking Walsall to Sandwell and Birmingham, easing people to get in and out of the borough.

Councillor Anthony Harris, cabinet member for transport, said success would help make progress on longer term ambitions for the other three sites.