Frustration over bus station delay
DELAYS in carrying out asbestos surveys which have held up the new £3.5m bus station development by a month, have been labelled “frustrating”.
The start of the project - part of a wider multi million pound plan to redevelop Rawtenstall town centre - has been delayed, with demolition now set to begin after the end of the summer holidays.
The Free Press reported in June that works on the demolition of the police station, one stop shop and part of the old town hall were due to begin in mid-August.
But that timetable has now been pushed back by weeks, meaning building work proper on the bus station is now not anticipated to start for three months.
The delays are as a result of an asbestos surveys being carried out on the buildings that are to be demolished.
Rossendale council leader Coun Alyson Barnes said they can start demolition once they know the outcome of the surveys.
She said: “This is likely to be mid-September, so hoardings would go up first week of September.
“There is a six to eightweek demolition, and this would mean a proper start on site in mid-November.”
Council bosses have previously indicated that it will take an estimated 18 months to build the bus station.
Rossendale Conservative group leader Anne Cheetham said the delays were very frustrating.
She said: “I would have thought that this would have been done already, but we have to be sure of where the asbestos is for the health and safety of those who will be working on the site.
“It would have been good to have the demolition done and the work started before all the schools went back for the new term.”
Public information sessions will be held for residents and businesses to get more information about timescales and changes to parking.
Dates of the public information sessions will be released in due course.
The ‘Masterplan’ - now known as the ‘Spinning Point Project’ to reflect Rossendale’s roots in the cotton industry – is set to be completed in two phases, the first of which will see a new £3.5m bus station built on Bacup Road.
The second phase for the redevelopment will see 22 homes on the former Valley Centre site and the creation of new leisure facilities and parking on Kay Street and Bacup Road.