AFTER decades in the gestation, plans for the creation of a new bus station for Hexham on the Loosing Hill car were unanimously approved by Northumberland County Council planners on Tuesday.

Not a voice was raised against a scheme which when first mooted attracted a protest march though Hexham, and a 10,000 name petition.

The only objection came from Hexham Civic Society –but its representatives Wendy Breach and Peter Arnold were refused permission to address the council‘s strategic planning committee because their application to do so arrived too late.

The only public speaker was project manager Steve Clark of the county council, who said the new bus station would offer a safer, and more welcoming facility for Hexham and free up a key regeneration site.

The design had evolved from a lengthy series of consultation exercises, involving not only bus users, councillors and other interested groups but also the bus operators who would be using the new bus station.

He acknowledged that the scheme would result in the loss of 70 car parking spaces, but insisted there was adequate alternative parking in Hexham to soak up the displaced vehicles.

This point was disputed by Allendale’s Coun Colin Horncastle, who said that shopkeepers in the town were horrified by the loss of parking close to the town centre.

He said: “I’m worried about it too.

“It‘s not just these spaces, it’s the loss of many more with the building of the new store in the M&S car park.

“I’m all for the new bus station, but should point out that around 90 per cent of people who come into Hexham do so by car, because there are so few buses from the rural areas and will find it even more difficult to park.

“An awful lot of Hexham businesses will suffer from this.”

Committee chairman Coun. Paul Kelly said the introduction of free parking had backfired on Hexham, and pointed out that neighbouring Corbridge had kept paid for parking in the realisation that a free for all would lead to “absolute chaos.”

He said: “You have to be judicious about these things, and there will doubtless be a revision of this policy in future years.”

Coun. Richard Dodd, of Ogle, expressed concern about the sharp turns buses coming from the east, and the North Tyne, would have to execute to gain access to the new bus station.

He said: “The buses will have to take a wide swing to get in, and this could have implications for other road users and pedestrians.”

He was assured the mini-roundabout in Priestpopple would be widened to accommodate the wider vehicles.

Questions were raised about the promised incorporation of the present bus station clock into the new complex, and planning officer Jenny Green explained this was happening - but not in the way originally proposed.

It had been proposed that the clock be featured in a new imposing clock tower, but Mrs Green explained: “A clock tower requires a clock with two faces, and the present clock only has one.

“It will therefore incorporated into the new waiting room, and a new double faced clock will go in the clock tower.”

The new bus station will accommodate a waiting room, toilets, refreshments kiosk, a staff room for the bus operators, external seating and information displays, with a roof incorporating integrated photovoltaic cells as a power source.

Five bus bays would be provided within the site; two with direct access from Corbridge Road and three along the northern side of the building which would mean no buses would have to reverse out of the site.

The existing access into the Loosing Hill car park would be relocated further eastwards and this would serve the 50 car park spaces that would be retained.

The existing egress from the car park onto the A6079 Priestpopple would be stopped up so cars exiting from the car park would do so on to Corbridge Road.

Speaking after the meeting on behalf of the civic society, Mrs Breach said the society was “quite stunned” that Hexham Town Council had not seen fit to make any formal comments about the application.

She went on: “We accept that the new bus station will be at Loosing Hill and that the arguments for its retention on Priestpopple have been lost.

“However we now wish to see a bus station of high architectural quality, design and materials, that, although modern in looks, will both complement Hexham’s historic buildings, and will serve bus users well.”

The society did have reservations about several aspects of the development, especially about the effect on pedestrians.

Mrs Breach said: “We have little confidence that pedestrian access to the Loosing Hill area has been designed to be safe, direct and convenient.

“There has been no consideration of integrated transport, i.e. putting a good pedestrian route between the train station and the bus station.

“Pedestrians trying to reach the bus station from the train station would need to cross Station Road twice.

“The county’s highways department does not have a good track record in Hexham with regard to making provision for pedestrians.

“It’s important to make convenient and safe provision for pedestrians anywhere in a market town – but particularly important for the bus station – whose very raison-d’etre is to get people to and from it on foot.

“Hexham Civic Society would like to see conditions placed on the application such that a properly safe and convenient pedestrian scheme is designed by an expert in public realm – with a focus on pedestrians as a priority.“

brian.tilley@hexham-courant.co.uk