Lancashire County Council bought Grade II listed Preston Bus Station for £1 and this week have announced plans for its redevelopment. These include:
- Reducing the number of bus bays from 80 to 40.
- Using only the east side for buses.
- Making the car parking spaces bigger.
- Using the west side for a Youth Zone including outdoor pitches and areas for music, art and craft.
The total cost could be £23m including:
- Repairs are expected to cost £6.4m and conversion to a smaller station £7.4m.
- The Youth Zone, £6m.
- Improvements to the apron £2m and highway improvement £1.5m including improvements to linking the bus and railway stations.
These are interesting plans although pushing the bus station behind a sports complex makes it remote and quite a trail from the life of the centre. Although being next to the bus station should also be a bonus for the youth complex. The plans for the Guild Hall should also make use of the bus station and it might be hoped that the Guild Hall Arcade will be modified to provide a comfortable space for moving between the bus station and the Town Centre. Also the underground passageways to the bus station are no longer necessary.