DERBY BUS STATION - THE END IS NIGH?
The latest date to be given for the closure of the present Derby Bus Station is the end of August, but as regular readers of my bulletins will know, there is no such thing as a firm date where this particular project is concerned.
Work was due to start on the demolition in January of this year but at the eleventh hour, it was discovered that a small piece of land, essential to the project, had not been secured. The developer should by now have signed a lease agreement for the land and this will unlock funding so that the developer can buy the building materials. In the meantime, the City Council has grudgingly agreed to give up one of its car parks to act as a temporary bus station while the new one is constructed. The interim facility is not particularly large and will require great agility on the part of the Trent and Arriva drivers, although it does have the advantage that it is close to the present bus station.
Further public dissent has come from a Derby resident, Pat Woolley, who has complained to the Local Government Ombudsman about the way the City Council awarded the project to the developer, claiming that objections had not been fully considered. More recently, another resident has appealed against the renewal of the twelve licences for the new bars and restaurants that will be created by the development.
The project has so far taken eight years and yet there is little to indicate that anything has happened. However, it does now appear that something will happen this year and it is recommended that anyone who wishes to see the 1933 Bus Station with its curved shelters should visit during the Summer before it is flattened.
John Bowden
Chapel Lane, Wythall, Worcs B47 6JX
Tel : 01564 826471 e-mail us
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