The bus station

Forty years ago, Bourne was a quiet country community but becoming busier and as the weekly street market was then held in the town centre, which was also a stopping place for buses, some regulation was needed and on Monday 11th June 1973, the first traffic lights were installed at a cost of £10,000.

There were also attempts at this time to move the market off the streets because of the dangers being created by stalls erected alongside the pavements in North Street and West Street, so narrowing the space available for passing traffic, although it was to be several more years before this was to become a reality. But it was obvious at this time that buses could not continue to use the market place with the kerbside as their terminus and so the construction of a new bus station was undertaken.

The chosen site was at the corner of St Gilbert's Road and North Street where a row of Victorian terraced houses was demolished to make way for the development. The new facility came into use in the autumn of 1974 and although it meant a longer walk for bus passengers arriving in town for a day's shopping or business, it was an obvious and rational development. Shortly before Christmas the following year, a new town service was inaugurated with buses travelling at intervals on circuits from the bus station through many parts of the town.

The bus station was vastly improved in 1994 with a facelift costing £41,690 following a series of complaints about the inconvenience of the old layout and repeated acts of vandalism. The work included closing off the exit St Gilbert's Road which had been causing traffic problems and enabled traffic to use the bus station as a short cut or to park, particularly in the evenings and at weekend. The new scheme meant that buses would in future enter and exit from the North Street entrance only. In addition, five bus bays were provided with a covered shelter for passengers and the waiting room and toilets were upgraded and a taxi rank provided on the south side, although in the event, this was rarely used. Other improvements included repairs to the boundary wall and protective railings and new directional signs.

Councillor John Kirkman, a member of both the town and district councils, welcomed to project which he said had the support of the entire town. "We have been pushing for this for a very long time", he told a meeting of South Kesteven District Council's amenities committee when the plans were discussed in August 1994. "The waiting room, particularly, is a disgrace and has been for many years."

The bus station is still in regular and busy use. Long distance coaches operated by National Express between London and the north call here daily as well as a number of others from various coach companies as this form of transport enjoys a new popularity in the face of rising rail fares. Apart from providing a convenient picking up and dropping off point, the available space enables coaches wait and adhere to their schedules which was not possible at the kerbside where large vehicles parked for any length of time were liable to cause problems for other traffic.

The first signs that the town might lose the bus station came during the autumn of 2000 when it was proposed that one of the parking bays was to be removed to make room for a new supermarket planned nearby and so after more than a quarter of a century, the bus station was perceived to have outlived its original importance to the town. This development never materialised, mainly because a row of Victorian houses, the remaining section of the original North Street terrace that had been earmarked for demolition, was saved through public opposition and is now part of a new red brick housing development called Marquess Court that does credit to that part of town.

Yet official persistence to close the bus station continued with South Kesteven District Council continually quoting “a widespread view” that it was under used although few people in Bourne agreed with this assessment and no evidence was produced to support it.

Then in 2005, the Stamford Mercury revealed that the bus station was likely to be sold for redevelopment to help fund a proposed multi-storey car park on the existing site behind the Burghley Centre (October 21st) as part of a new £27 million town centre redevelopment. By this time, the bus station had served the town well for more than 30 years and had become a focal point for local and national coaches but where they would go in the future was not indicated and it was presumably intended that buses would pick up passengers at the roadside with all of the dangers that entailed.

The leader of South Kesteven District Council, Councillor Linda Neal (Bourne West), told the newspaper that the only reason for the sale being considered was to help fund the town centre redevelopment but this seemed to be a drastic measure, especially as many of the intending passengers who used it were schoolchildren, while there would be no port of call for the town's own bus company Delaine and the National Express link serving London and the north.

The official view was put quite specifically by Mike Sibthorpe, the council’s head of planning policy and economic regeneration, to the Stamford Mecury (November 4th). “There is a widespread view that the bus station as a facility is an under used property asset", he said, "and that subject to appropriate alternative provisions being made, the site could be disposed of as part of the regeneration of the town centre area. It would appear that a relatively small number of buses are now using the bus station. If it were possible for those buses to pick up and drop passengers at appropriate roadside facilities, there would not likely to be a continuing requirement for a bus station.”

This appeared to be official speak for the fact that a decision has been made behind closed doors and without consultation and the bus station was to be sold, irrespective of what the people wanted, because Mr Sibthorpe did not reveal where the opinion about under use had come from. Indeed, it was news to most people in Bourne who deplored the prospect of intending passengers being forced to stand at the kerbside to catch a bus while the traditional stopping and waiting place was phased out.

News reports and letters in the same issue of the newspaper did not contain a single word in support of closing the bus station and there was even condemnation from Councillor Don Fisher, a former Mayor of Bourne and long standing member of South Kesteven District Council (1979-2007) who made a vital point: “When redevelopment of a town centre is proposed, the town involved is supposed to benefit from planning gain, not be asked to sell off valuable assets to underwrite the cost. I fully back calls to keep the bus station. It is a valuable amenity.”

Fortunately, there was a ray of hope in the discussion from the Town Centre Co-ordinator, Ivan Fuller, who lives in Bourne and was therefore more in touch with public opinion because he told The Local that the matter was still under discussion. “There are no plans for the demolition of the bus station and no specific decision has been made”, he said. “We are still in the process of conducting a full evaluation. As and when things happen, they will be communicated to the public straight away.”

Then in 2006, the Councillor Neal told the Stamford Mercury that although they had been considering selling the bus station on the grounds that it was surplus to requirements, the facility would remain for the foreseeable future (January 6th). She added: “In the light of recent comments and public opinion, I can confirm that it will not be going anywhere unless another site can be found.”

In July that year, it was revealed that SKDC had identified the site in its Local Development Framework as being within an area for major housing or commercial development “at some time in the future”. Mr Sibthorpe told the Stamford Mercury that the situation had not changed and the subject was still a live issue (June 30th). "We need to continue to long term future of the bus station", he said. "The options being looked at are much the same as they were in that we could move the station elsewhere, we could reduce the size of the existing site or we could leave it where it is for now. At some time in the future, I expect that the council's cabinet will be asked to discuss the issue of the bus station."

Closure, however, aroused strong opposition throughout the town, especially from the town council. Councillor Pet Moisey articulated the concerns of her colleagues when she told the newspaper:

"Moving the bus station will create traffic chaos. It should be left well alone as a well used resource for the town and is ideally placed in the town centre for easy and safe access for buses and passengers. It is not just local buses that people catch from there because commuters also use it to catch the National Express to London every day. The bus station is a vital transport link for everyone in Bourne and should not be messed with at all."

In May 2007, the public lavatories at the bus station were pulled down on the pretext that they were being continually vandalised but this was regarded as a prelude to clearing the bus station in readiness for sale to a housing developer. There the matter rests but many people are asking for how long?

WRITTEN AUGUST 2015

See also     Roads and traffic     Public lavatories