Shropshire Green Party insists Shrewsbury Bus Station must stay
Shropshire's Green Party has stressed the importance of a bus station in Shrewsbury, and said any plans to remove it would be a "backward step".
During a council meeting on Thursday, July 16, councillor Steve Davenport, cabinet member for highways and transport, said there would be no need for a bus station in Shrewsbury if they go ahead with plans to make the town centre "greener and cleaner".
Members of the county's Green Party said it was totally unacceptable and that a town the size of Shrewsbury should have a bus station, which is modern and fit for future purpose.
Professor John Whitelegg, a Shrewsbury resident and Green Party member, said: “The deletion of a bus station is contrary to public transport best practice in the UK, Europe and globally. It deprives bus users of convenient interchange between buses and will make any intervention to deal with climate change by switching car trips to bus much more difficult."
Hilary Wendt, Co-ordinator of South Shropshire Green Party added: "We need a transport plan that enables us to get to work, school and leisure in an easy, healthy and safe way. We need local leadership working to create a convenient, cost-effective and coherent public transport network – so that public transport and walking and cycling become the natural first choice for our daily activities.
"What this means in practice is that people must have the opportunity to take a clean, frequent, reliable and cheap bus to Shrewsbury bus station, change to another bus, e.g. the bus to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, or get a reliable, frequent and cheap train to Birmingham.
"It is a backward step to demolish a bus station and this decision is contrary to best practice on public consultation. We are very shocked that bus users have not been given an opportunity to take part in a discussion about the bus station and how to make it fit for our low carbon, post-Covid future."
