Town’s ‘transport hub’ opens
Tuesday 16th June 2009, 6:00PM BST.
The new Wellington Bus Station. Pictures by Bob Greaves
Civic leaders have welcomed the opening of Wellington’s new bus station – the first phase of a planned £9 million transformation of the town.
VIPs gathered in the town yesterday for the official opening of the station, which serves as an interchange for both buses and taxis. Councillor Barry Tillotson, Wellington mayor, and Councillor Karen Blundell, Telford & Wrekin mayor, teamed up to officially declare the station open.
The ceremony marked the completion of the first phase of work on a new £650,000 transport hub for the town.
Phase two of the ambitious project will see the old bus station around the corner bulldozed and a 60-space car park built on the site.
Councillor Tillotson said: “The old bus station was past its sell-by date and it was also dangerous because buses had to reverse out of the bays.
“What we have now is a 100 per cent improvement.
“Now the old station will be demolished and a car park built on site.
“A lot of credit has to go to Telford & Wrekin Council for the roll-out of its Borough Towns Initiative which is certainly helping to improve our community.”
Telford & Wrekin Council planners believe the new bus and taxi interchange will improve access to the town’s train station, directly linking bus and train services for the first time.
The transport hub is the first of two major projects set to transform Wellington, the second being an £8.5 million plan to create a prestigious new civic quarter.
If the proposals are approved, a new register office is to be built, the library replaced by a state-of-the-art building and office accommodation provided for up to 160 people aimed at bringing more people into the heart of the town.
There are also plans for a new public square and the quality and size of the fitness suite at Wellington leisure centre are to be increased while the changing rooms will be refurbished.
Other improvements would include redevelopment of the old library site, the demolition of a disused public toilet and the former information centre and the re-routing of Larkin Way to create a link between the new civic area and Wellington town centre.
By Simon Hardy
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What a waste of money, what benefits will this bring to Wellington, why not spend the money on increasing the number of buses.
Are people really that lazy that they could not walk from wher ethe bus station was to the train station.
There is a reduction of around 40% in the number of car parking spaces that the new car park ofers, I am sure that will please the local traders, and it will only get worse as they build the new council offices – where are the staff going to park – oh yes – where the shoppers park – brilliant.
Well done Council give yourselves a pat on the back.
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Its the bus depot on charlton street that needed moving, trying to drive or walk down there is a joke with busses taking up the whole road, surely halesfield would be a better venue?
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Why would any one go to Wellington? half of the shops have closed down i find the place a bit of a dump!!
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How heartening to see such positive comments. TelfordWolves, the improvements to the town are being made to try to transform it into a more inviting place, as it once was. There are lots of independent shops and a hell of a market just to name a couple of things. Bring in a coffee chain, restore the buildings, plant things, restore the station and we’ll be halfway there!
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PS – a pity the signmakers had to insert and inappropriate apostrophe on the sign though…still a very small gripe in the big scheme of things!
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TelfordWolves – Wellington is far from a dump if you know where to look (which you clearly don’t). See my group’s website for a few ideas: http://www.wellingtonunderthewrekin.co.uk
Incidentally, about 20 of my friends travelled up to Wellington from London last weekend to enjoy the Midsummer Fayre. They were able to take great country walks from the town out to Wrockwardine (where they were staying) and up The Wrekin for the Barrel Race on Sunday. They enjoyed dinner in the town, as well as drink at the area’s best real ale pub. They visited quality local butchers, bakers and a delicatessen for lunch, then spent an afternoon at Sunnycroft, the town’s National Trust Property. They really enjoyed themselves – who’d have thought it!
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Peter – you state that the improvements are aimed at trying to make it into an inviting place like it use to be. Unfortunately I doubt that we will see those days again since Wellington was then a town by itself and not part of a much larger authority.
In terms of inviting what about all the empty boarded up pubs, shops, reduced car parking.
The otehr writer goes on about all the independent shops, well how many of them are there and of what quality !
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