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Is the sun setting on the city’s bus station?
The citys bus station is haunted by the spectre of the wrecking ball
Preston’s bus station will cost £7m to keep running despite Town Hall figures showing it makes a profit.
Coun Martyn Rawlinson, the council’s cabinet member for resources, has said it would cost more than the £5m it has in reserve to spend on the city centre to carry out structural improvements on the 43-year-old building.
But, figures have shown that, while the bus station terminal loses £458,760 every year, its 1,100-space car park makes a profit of £543,370, generating an overall profit of £84,610.
Today, the city’s council will meet to decide its annual budget, with the authority’s Liberal Democrat opposition proposing to demolish the building.
Coun Rawlinson said the council would make a decision “in the next six months” on what it does with its assets, including the bus station, the Guild Hall and the markets.
He said: “Demolishing the bus station is an option, but there needs to be a bigger solution to the assets we have in the city centre.
“It does make a profit, but the building is a mess. It will cost us anything up to £7m just to put it right.
“People can blame the council for chasing Tithebarn, and allowing it to get like that, but when there is £700m of investment on the table, you do not take that lightly.”
He said the council’s ruling Labour group’s only commitment to the city centre is £2m for improvements to its markets, which Coun Rawlinson said was to show “a commitment to the markets”.
The Liberal group will put forward its plan for the bus station at tomorrow’s council budget meeting.
“They claim it will cost around £2.5m to knock it down and turn it into a 700-space car park, while they await a developer.
Group finance spokesman Coun John Potter said: “If developer does not come forward, the amount we make on that surface car park would be similar to the current car park.
“We currently pay Lancashire County Council to use the bus station, even though Preston Council does not run buses and now where we have reached the stage where the building requires millions spent on it.”
The figures show that bus operators pay around £250,000 to use the bus station, with revenue also generated by shop rents (£62,530 in 2011/12), office rents (£58,500) and even the public telephones (£1,030).
However, costs include around £220,000 on staffing the building, £193,000 on cleaning and £51,000 in electricity bills.
The building’s car park brings in around £590,000 in charges, with costs including £110,000 in business rates.
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Weather for Preston
Monday 20 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 11 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 9 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: North west
