‘NO BUS STATION BEFORE 2020’
COUNCIL ADMITS NEW STATION WILL NOT BE COMPLETED FOR AT LEAST ANOTHER THREE YEARS
MORE than two years after Cardiff’s bus station was demolished, the city’s council is starting again on developing a new plan for public transport in the city.
And it has now admitted that no bus station will open in Cardiff before 2020.
City residents were originally promised an impressive bus station funded by office spaces and private flats above.
But then in July this year, it was revealed those plans were not viable in the current economic climate.
Instead, the council – which has already spent millions on the project – said it would draw up a new plan funded by student accommodation above the bus station.
Now, the cabinet member in charge, Russell Goodway, has launched an entirely new “twintrack” strategy.
He said the council was going to pursue two approaches at the same time.
On one hand, it has asked the developer to go back to the drawing board and submit a fresh planning application by December.
It has been asked to develop proposals for a bus station funded by a small amount of office element, private rented and student accommodation and, potentially, a hotel.
At the same time, the council and Welsh Government is also looking into an entirely officebased scheme that might fund the development, with a single investor to take on the entire scheme.
But he has admitted the unnamed company’s timeframe does not match the council’s promise to make “urgent progress”.
Coun Goodway last night told councillors: “The administration has been working alongside Welsh Government to pursue a potential inward investor whose requirement appears to match the bus station offer.
“I met with the potential inward investor in London earlier this year and I am aware that Cabinet Secretary Skates met with them as recently as this month.
“I understand that the company maintains a strong interest to relocating part of its operations to Cardiff.
“However, it is now clear that the company’s timeframe for making a final decision does not suit our needs to make urgent progress on the bus station project”.
He will ask for permission in December to enter a new contract for the scheme.
He said he believes it could mean work starts on site early in the new year.
However, in July when student accommodation was first touted, the council said it would necessitate a whole new planning application.
To meet his ambitious timeframe, Coun Goodway would need to ensure cabinet and planning permission within weeks of each other.
Coun Goodway assured councillors that work should start in early 2018 and be completed in two years.
In his statement he made reference to “significant unexpected cost of acquiring buildings”.
He was asked by opposition leader Joe Boyle to explain the failure to account for that cost.
Coun Goodway responded: “It wasn’t a failure to spot any unexpected cost, it was a decision to do something differently. When the scheme was outlined in 2012-13 it did not involve the acquisition of the NCP.
“When we decided to place the bus station where it is going, then that meant we had to acquire the car park and we had to pay a significant sum for it.
“We needed to pay a premium because it was a going concern which was profitable so we had to pay more than the land value.”
In response to a question from Conservative councillor Rod McKerlich, he said the council still hoped to pay for the bus station through proceeds of the leasehold interests on the site.
Coun McKerlich had asked for assurances the project would not get the council further into debt.
Coun Goodway responded: “The intention is and always has been, since 2012, to fund the entire development out of the proceeds of the sale of leasehold interests in the site.
“That remains the ambition. We feel that we can, providing we go down the route we outline.”
But he said he could not guarantee that there would not be a cost to the council.
The former bus station was closed on August 1, 2015. At that time, there was talk of a replacement opening in 2018.
Since then, it has been beset by delays.