{"id":6865,"date":"2013-11-29T19:07:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-29T19:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/?p=6865"},"modified":"2013-11-29T19:07:00","modified_gmt":"2013-11-29T19:07:00","slug":"landmark-deal-for-preston-bus-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=6865","title":{"rendered":"Landmark deal for Preston Bus Station"},"content":{"rendered":"

The future of Preston Bus Station is set to be guaranteed thanks to a deal between Preston City Council (PCC) and Lancashire County Council.<\/span><\/p>\n

PCC writes:
\n<\/span>Subject to agreement at the Councils\u2019 Cabinet meetings on 5 December, the deal is also set to unlock \u00a38.3m of investment into the Grade II listed bus station.<\/p>\n

Keeping the building in public ownership, allowing Lancashire County Council as transport authority to invest in the building and improve facilities for passengers, as well as easing the City Council\u2019s financial situation are all key aspects of the deal.<\/p>\n

Welcoming the report to the Council\u2019s Cabinet, Councillor Peter Rankin, Leader of Preston City Council, said:\u00a0\u00a0\u2018This is the best possible outcome for Preston and Lancashire, as the bus station is an important transport hub for the county.<\/p>\n

\u2018The deal will put to rest any doubt whatsoever over Preston Bus Station. The building\u2019s future will be 100% guaranteed. In fact, the County Council will be able to invest in the building to improve the facilities for the thousands of people that use it every day. We have always wanted a bus station fit for the 21st century. The transfer will take us towards that goal.<\/p>\n

\u2018This, I know, will be very much welcomed by the people of Preston. So too will the fact that the City Council will no longer have to find the money to run the building which, given the savage budget cuts imposed on Preston, was a significant financial strain for the City Council. Lancashire County Council simply has the scale, expertise and resources to manage such a large building.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019ve always understood people\u2019s passion for Preston Bus Station and can see why many people want to keep it. Our past decision to demolish was purely a financial one. As a City Council, we couldn\u2019t afford to either invest or indeed keep the building open.<\/p>\n

\u2018I am both relieved and delighted that the County Council is set to take the building on and secure the future of Preston Bus Station for the people of Preston and Lancashire. \u2018<\/p>\n

County Councillor John Fillis, Cabinet member for highways and transport, said:\u00a0\u00a0\u2018The listing decision made it clear that the bus station is here to stay and we have to be pragmatic about how we create the most sustainable future for the building, which is why our officers have worked with Preston’s to draft these proposals. ?? \u2018The arguments in favour of the transfer of the bus station are that, as the strategic transport authority for Lancashire, we have the experience and expertise gained from running other public transport hubs and would be better placed to make the bus station work.<\/p>\n

\u2018We also have the financial resources to attract additional funding and ensure that we could invest in the fabric of the building to provide a much better experience for the people who use it.<\/p>\n

\u2018We are committed to making sure that the bus station and the car park both work as well as they can and will also explore other ways in which we can make the best use of what is an iconic building at the heart of Preston. Improvements to the bus station will be key to our wider plans to work with Preston City Council to regenerate this part of the city centre. \u2018<\/p>\n

Background information<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Preston Bus Station & Car Park was built in 1969<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The building is made of concrete, it is 171m long and stands 9 stories high<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In December 2012, the City Council took an \u2018in principle\u2019 decision to demolish Preston Bus Station<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This decision was taken on the basis that the building costs \u00a3300,000 a year to maintain and also needs significant capital investment<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lancashire County Council has an amount of \u00a38.3m in its capital programme to spend on a bus station in Preston; this money is set to be used to improve the present bus station building which, in September 2013, was listed as a building of significant historical and architectural interest by the Department of Media, Culture and Sport<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It will be sometime after 1 April 2014 when the building is transferred<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Full\u00a0details\u00a0are available on\u00a0Preston City Council’s\u00a0Cabinet Agenda<\/a>The future of Preston Bus Station is set to be guaranteed thanks to a deal between Preston City Council and Lancashire County Council.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Subject to agreement at the city council\u2019s cabinet meetings on 5 December, the deal is also set to unlock \u00a38.3m of investment into the Grade II listed bus station.<\/p>\n

The deal involves keeping the building in public ownership, allowing Lancashire County Council as transport authority to invest in the building and improve facilities for passengers, as well as easing the city council\u2019s financial situation. The ownership of the building will be transferred after 1 April 2014.<\/p>\n

Search Planning Portal<\/span>: LINK<\/a><\/p>\n

Preston CC<\/span>: LINK<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The future of Preston Bus Station is set to be guaranteed thanks to a deal between Preston City Council (PCC) and Lancashire County Council. PCC writes: Subject to agreement at the Councils\u2019 Cabinet meetings on 5 December, the deal is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6865"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6866,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6865\/revisions\/6866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}