A £2M upgrade to facilities at the Thornhill park-and-ride site, Oxford, is close to completion.

Renovations which began 15 months ago will include a new terminal building with a heated waiting room and seating.

Four large bus stops will serve the facility, which allows passengers to catch park and ride buses to the city centre and Headington hospitals, as well as coaches to London and its airports.

The new terminal, which has opened, has an elevated office for staff - providing higher views of the car park which will add to the security provided by the site's closed circuit television cameras.

Real-time displays will also be installed to give passengers up-to-date information on bus arrival times.

A covered cycle parking area, and room to accommodate other local bus services in the future, will also be introduced.

Paul Smith, spokesman for Oxfordshire County Council, which runs the free-to-use site, said the project would take a further six weeks to complete.

He said the temporary bus turnaround would be reinstated to car parking and the old customer care offices would be removed, increasing parking spaces at the site.

Ian Hudspeth, the county council's cabinet member for transport, said: "We have all been looking forward to this job being completed.

"These new facilities are excellent and I am sure they will persuade more people to use the park-and-ride.

"I hope regular users of Thornhill will enjoy using the facilities.

"We will shortly be able to increase the number of parking spaces available by removing old buildings - and that will be the final piece in the jigsaw."

Last December, transport officers revealed they were drawing up plans to extend the park-and-ride after people living in the nearby Sandhills estate claimed commuters were parking outside their homes when the site was full.

Mr Smith said officers hoped to submit a planning application later this year, but no decision had yet been made about how the site would be extended.