Plans drawn up for range of improvements to Alnwick bus station

A range of accessibility and safety works are planned as part of the Bus Service Improvement Plan being delivered by the North East Mayoral Combined Authority.

Cllr Martin Swinbank, Alnwick ward member on Northumberland County Council, said: “Alnwick is the only bus station in Northumberland to secure funding in this way and it will transform the area around the building with new pedestrian crossings, a redesign of the bus bays, real time service information, new seating, lighting and CCTV.”

Details of the plans were unveiled to the public at an Alnwick Forum drop-in session last week.

“I'm really pleased to see this investment which I've been pushing for some years now,” added Cllr Swinbank. “I'm also pleased that the mature trees at the entrance to the station are to now be retained, after I expressed concern with the original plans where they would be lost. They provide an attractive green presence at this entrance to the town centre.

"We deserve to have a pleasant and safe bus station in Alnwick and I see this as the first phase of that work.

"I'm pressing for further funding for the rebuild of the station building itself as phase two, so that bus passengers have a safe and welcoming waiting area located in a modern transport hub, fit for the 21st century.”

There have long been concerns about anti-social behaviour and associated crime in the area around the bus station. They were raised again at a safeguarding and crime prevention public pop in event at The Lindisfarne Centre earlier this month.