Council warns of ‘significant impact’ on traffic during bus station demolition

Nottingham City Council has given the go-ahead for the demolition of the Broadmarsh Bus Station , and says its replacement will feature a mixture of shops and cafes.

However, the Council has warned that the move will bring a “significant impact” on traffic flow around the new development.

Councillors at the City Council’s Executive Board meeting yesterday (1 June) said that it was cheaper to delomish the building that to provide running repairs.

The new development will include changes to the surrounding streets where traffic will be removed or reduced to create a pedestrian-friendly entrance to the city centre from Nottingham Station. Shops and cafes will be developed overlooking the new pedestrianised areas of Carrington Street and Collin Street. The car park will have the same number of spaces and a new entrance and exit on Canal Street.

City Council leader councillor Jon Collins said: “The new car park, bus station and shops will play a big part in changing the look and feel of the whole area and I for one am keen to see the building replaced with something modern and appropriate for such a key site on the southern entrance to the city centre.

“I imagine others will be pleased to see the back of it too and I look forward to seeing someone swing a sledgehammer to start the process of consigning it to history.

“Clearly, developments of this magnitude in a key central location can’t happen without having a significant impact on traffic, but everything will be done to minimise this as much as possible, such as coordinating the different schemes that are underway and putting clear traffic management arrangements in place.”

The Council says that recent improvement works around the Broadmarsh area at Canal Street and London Road were designed with this in mind and should ease the flow of traffic around the area. The works will be coordinated with the intu Broadmarsh redevelopment and road changes to minimise disruption as much as possible.

Temporary traffic management will also be in place during demolition, with one lane closed on Collin Street, Middle Hill and Canal Street, while upper Carrington Street will be closed.

The Council has created temporary alternative parking sites on Canal Street at Broadmarsh East (City Hub site) and Sheriff’s Lodge while the development is underway, with other car parks nearby and plenty of public transport options available to access the city centre. Car park prices at these sites will remain the same as at Broadmarsh Car Park but with no early bird discount.

The intention is that demolition will start in mid-July and will take around six months to complete. Construction of the new car park will begin early next year and should be complete by the end of spring 2019.