Major disruption expected as Derbyshire bus station and car park to close for three months
A Derbyshire bus station and car park are due to be closed for three months for delayed major renovation works.
Swadlincote bus station and the associated car park in Civic Way are set to be closed from Tuesday, January 6, with total construction and fit-out to take 14 weeks – three-and-a-half months.
This is for works secured by Derbyshire County Council in 2022 through the bus service improvement plan funded by a £47 million Government grant.
Works in Swadlincote had been due to be completed “no earlier than April 2024” and later given an aim to be completed “during 2025”.
The works are now set to stretch from January through to mid-April 2026.
Throughout this time, there will be two temporary bus stops set up on Civic Way.
Details provided by Cllr Martin Bromley, county councillor for Swadlincote East, show the current main entrance – closest to the fire station – to the shared station and car park site will be changed to only serve buses and coaches.
The top end of the car park will be closed off and the public walkway extended to end the current “conflict” between pedestrians and vehicles in the shared car park and bus station.
Meanwhile, access to the car park, run by South Derbyshire District Council, would be from the entrance closest to the police station.
Exit from the car park would become left-only towards Sainsbury’s, with no right turn allowed.
The bus station itself will gain new shelters, seating, bins and real-time digital screens, while the car park will gain parent and child spaces and disabled bays relocated to the library end.
In April this year, the district council announced its £20,000 plan to revamp its car park, to coincide with the bus station regeneration.
The district council said this was required to resolve parking space issues, which are currently too tight and do not offer adequate space for vehicles and for people to exit their vehicles.
It said most of the 74 spaces fell below modern standards for car park spaces and with a larger average size of vehicles, providing problems for disabled users and those with babies.
Spaces would be widened by 25cm from 2.25 metres wide to 2.5 metres.
Cllr Bromley, posting on Facebook, wrote: “A lot of disruption is expected and with the nature of large construction projects there may be hiccups along the way. Hopefully all will be worthwhile when completed.”
Public transport duties have, as of October, passed over from Derbyshire County Council to the East Midlands Combined County Authority.
The Swadlincote bus station upgrade is one of 12 signed off by the council before it handed over the responsibilities to the combined authority, with regeneration completed in Alfreton, Bamford, Hayfield, Shirebrook and Matlock.
Work was expected to be completed in 2025 on “hub” upgrades in Buxton, Castleton, Heanor, Long Eaton, Ripley, Staveley and Swadlincote.
The council’s bus improvement plan update in May detailed: “These hubs provide better waiting facilities and improved passenger facilities with some also improving operational aspects.
“These improvements are hoped to contribute to increased bus usage and better connectivity.
“Throughout the BSIP programme there has been a few difficulties within the delivery of the construction phases due to capacity issues internally.
“Consequently, procurement exercises have had to be undertaken with the intention of delivery of this phase of the project being done by an external company.”