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Plea to demolish ‘barrier’ station
Lancashire Evening Post | 10th May 2010

The boss of a business lobbying group has called for Preston’s bus station to be demolished whether or not the city’s £700m Tithebarn development goes ahead.

Frank McKenna, chairman of Downtown Preston in Business (DPIB), said that the bulldozers rolling in to raze the structure to the ground would be “a major signal of intent” that the city was serious about major regeneration.

He said that Preston would fail to fulfil its potential as a city centre for “as long as the eyesore that is the bus station remains.”

A public inquiry sparked by objections from a consortium of local councils, led by authorities in Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen, starts next week to decide whether the Tithebarn project will go ahead.

Mr McKenna said: “Whether we see Tithebarn go ahead or not, we need to get that bus station down as soon as possible because it is a major barrier to the future of Preston city centre.

“It is too big for practical use as a bus station and we will only start to generate interest in inward investment on that site when it is gone.

“That would be a major signal to the people that have been watching Preston for the last 40 years and waiting for a sign that we are serious about regenerating our city.”

He said that Preston Council now needed to ignore the “moans and groans of a vocal minority” of people opposed to the demolition of the bus station, which failed in a bid to get listed status earlier this year.

He said that regeneration would form a key part of DPIB’s Lancashire Business Week, which starts next Monday, and has Preston Vision chief executive Eliot Ward, North West Development Agency boss Steve Broomhead and Manchester Council supremo Sir Howard Bernstein among the speakers.

Mr McKenna said the group wanted the five-day series of events, covering topics including a brand for the city and developing a sector of ‘green’ businesses in Preston, to focus on the positives while also “recognising the frustrations” of a lack of regeneration activity.