Lewes Bus Station closes on 16th September

[Baxenden Bank]

Regrettably, this is par for the course by local government now - commonsense went out of the window decades ago.

Why is it the fault of local government?

I thought the site was privately owned?

I am really surprised they have not blocked off Lewes Bus Station and put some fence up......
.....from what i have heard the owners of the cafe (and the neighboring bus depot that is used as a storage yard) now have about another week or so to move everything out

Those two statements may be connected.

So they really ought to put up some large signs or something more clear that is visible to everyone immediately.

Feel free to be socially minded. Print some out at A4 and pop down with a roll of sticky tape! Slight risk you may get shouted at for 'criminal damage' by sticking things up, unofficial like, wear a hi-vis and look as though you have the right to be there doing it!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Those two statements may be connected.

I suspect that you may be right. It might be to enable the current tenants to vacate the premises, with vehicles arriving and being loaded etc.

With a closure like this, not certain another three weeks' grace is really here not there.

 

[seaviewer]

I can only be thoroughly incensed by the race-to-the-bottom approach advocated here. Lewes has gone from having a practical, capacious covered bus station, with an excellent community café, to some exposed stretch of pavement that you can't easily get a powered wheelchair or twin buggy along. The traffic problems, both pedestrian and motorist, will be much more of a problem once the colder, wetter weather and school terms kick in. Any pretense that these new 'facilities' are adequate are laughable, and I don't look forward to waiting in the pouring rain and freezing cold later in the year.

Criticism of all parties - the council planning office and the developers, particularly - is well overdue and thoroughly appropriate. This is not a sudden problem, and has been brewing for a decade. The county council planning committee have now refused permission for the redevelopment, but frankly a week's notice is far too little, too late, and hasn't prevented the closure. The proposed alternatives arising in the most recent planning consultation were all poor and smack of being developed by non-bus users with little-to-no adequate input at the consultation stage, and a heavy emphasis on minimising impact on private motorists.

Operationally, the bus station probably is a nice-to-have - there are multiple alternatives for standing and as Roger French notes in his blog today, the impact of parked cars etc. could be managed, if the council put the resource and effort in. The operators have clearly risen to the challenge as best they can with four weeks' notice. However, for passengers, the bus station was necessary - if not perfect (I'd concur with the lack of facilities and the limited opening hours on the waiting room). The loss of a well loved café and venue which provided a welcome and genuine alternative to other similar businesses in town is also a huge shame. Councillors have been parading round like they've made some heroic intervention but I don't know who they think they're fooling.

I cannot be more scathing about the outcome here. The fight to increase ongoing funding and support for decent, high quality public transport services should be a no-brainer, and it's deeply concerning that some here would have bus users put up and shut up when the axe falls.

I fully agree with this. The answer to the question, "will it make any difference" must be, "yes". If there is a risk of having to wait for your bus in the freezing cold and/or rain will deter people from going into the town. They will either drive (more CO2) or go elsewhere (lost trade to the town)

How on earth did it come to be sold to a developer? Why wasn't it given to Southdown with a Covenant that it should be offered to the local authority rather than being sold?

Elsewhere in the posts it is suggested that rogue parking in the bus stop arwill be a problem – it is.

I have heard that compulsory purchase by the local authority might be a possibility – does anyone know if this is realistic?

A despairing Lewesian.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

I fully agree with this. The answer to the question, "will it make any difference" must be, "yes". If there is a risk of having to wait for your bus in the freezing cold and/or rain will deter people from going into the town. They will either drive (more CO2) or go elsewhere (lost trade to the town)

How on earth did it come to be sold to a developer? Why wasn't it given to Southdown with a Covenant that it should be offered to the local authority rather than being sold?

Elsewhere in the posts it is suggested that rogue parking in the bus stop arwill be a problem – it is.

I have heard that compulsory purchase by the local authority might be a possibility – does anyone know if this is realistic?

A despairing Lewesian.

Depots and bus stations generally went with the NBC companies when they were sold as they were part of their operational property.

Lots of asset stripping happened during the years after NBC privatisation with ownership of properties being separated from the operational side (sale and leaseback perhaps). I'm surprised many bus stations (with or without attached depots) lasted as long as they have in opco ownership. I'm sure there were examples of covenants being applied to properties but I can't think of any this many years later.

Talking of Southdown, there used to be a similar arrangement at Arundel.

The best opportunity for Lewes to have become publicly owned would perhaps have been a) at privatisation of Southdown or b) when the operational depot closed but the bus station remained fully active.

Compulsory Purchase (CP) is an option if the council can prove there is an overwhelming need for that power to be applied to achieve an aim, that need being greater than the property owners own rights to do as they wish with their property. The council (or someone) could buy the bus station site from the developer as a normal commercial transaction of course. The cost would be the same (you don't get a discount for CP, you pay full alternative use value) except CP would take longer, have less certainty of a positive outcome and cost money for consultants, lawyers etc to progress the CP Order.

The way to protect the bus station would have been to identify it as such in the Local Plan, have an adopted policy to retain it, and then refuse planning permission for any redevelopment unless suitable alternative provision was made. The common example being school playing fields being built on in return for new playing fields elsewhere, improved playing fields or a sports facility built or improved elsewhere. The arguments about the need for the bus station would then have taken place as part of the Local Plan process rather than as part of the planning application process.

 

[busestrains]

They finally put fence up at the Lewes Bus Station and neighbouring Lewes Bus Depot a few days ago. For over two months after it closed the whole bus station was still wide open with no fence or any other indication it had closed except for a few signs. But they have finally boarded it up a few days ago. I am surprised it took them so long. It does not look very nice having a large boarded up Bus Station and Bus Depot with tall fence all around it in the middle of the town centre. It looks very unpleasant and run down now with the fence.

I was speaking to someone who rented out the Bus Station to use as a cafe and the Bus Depot to use as storage space and he has said that they have told him it is likely to be at least a year before any work on the Bus Station and Bus Depot starts happening. They have even allowed him to continue to use the Bus Station and Bus Depot to store stuff in for now. So it looks like it is going to be a long time before anything happens.

It is just ridiculous that they could not allow buses to continue using it until the work to demolish it actually starts. It is just going to be sitting unused for likely over a year before any work starts. Meanwhile all of the bus passengers are waiting at stops on narrow pavement with no shelter or benches. It is really utterly ridiculous.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

They finally put fence up at the Lewes Bus Station and neighbouring Lewes Bus Depot a few days ago. For over two months after it closed the whole bus station was still wide open with no fence or any other indication it had closed except for a few signs. But they have finally boarded it up a few days ago. I am surprised it took them so long. It does not look very nice having a large boarded up Bus Station and Bus Depot with tall fence all around it in the middle of the town centre. It looks very unpleasant and run down now with the fence.

I was speaking to someone who rented out the Bus Station to use as a cafe and the Bus Depot to use as storage space and he has said that they have told him it is likely to be at least a year before any work on the Bus Station and Bus Depot starts happening. They have even allowed him to continue to use the Bus Station and Bus Depot to store stuff in for now. So it looks like it is going to be a long time before anything happens.

It is just ridiculous that they could not allow buses to continue using it until the work to demolish it actually starts. It is just going to be sitting unused for likely over a year before any work starts. Meanwhile all of the bus passengers are waiting at stops on narrow pavement with no shelter or benches. It is really utterly ridiculous.

No, it's perfectly sensible from the owners point of view. Subject to whatever arrangements the cafe owner has negotiated, the landowner now has full control of the site. That makes it more valuable to sell on. Allow the buses to continue using it and a) there will be the same fuss when it does finally close and b) no-one will pursue any alternatives in the interim.

The council, or anyone else, is entirely at liberty to offer to buy the site from the current owner, as they have been for the past two months, since the operational depot was closed, or the approx 36 years since the NBC was broken up and privatised. In all that time the council has chosen not to do that. Remember that many of those intervening years were under a Labour government where money was potentially available, rather than the more recent austerity. Methinks the council doesn't want a bus station in Lewes.