MUCH criticised plans to relocate Douglas bus station to Victoria Street have been abandoned.
The proposal to relocate there from the current site at Lord Street sparked a storm of protest from local businesses, passengers and Douglas councillors - while Douglas Development Partnership warned it could ‘severely damage the town centre commercially and aesthetically’.
But after reviewing the results of a public consultation, the Department of Community, Culture and Leisure has confirmed it will not be moving forward with the Victoria Street bus interchange plan.
DCCL Minister Graham Cregeen MHK said: ‘The planned redevelopment of Lord Street means that Douglas bus station must be relocated but I can confirm that the department will not be pursuing proposals to relocate it to Victoria Street at this time.
‘As the department said at the beginning of this consultation, no plans were made and we wanted to gauge what bus users, local business and the general public thought of the potential.
‘While the number of responses the department received from the public was low, the consensus was not in favour of a move to Victoria Street. Given that neither the public nor the local businesses supported the proposal for a bus interchange on Victoria Street, the department will endeavour to identify and evaluate alternative options.’
The Minister said potential solutions would be considered that could ‘mitigate’ the concerns expressed of those who were opposed to the Victoria Street bus interchange proposal.’
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