The Fall of the Wall

 The Berlin Wall, which divided that German city, was in place for 27 years and during that time people thought that it would last for ever. Recently, the Bus Users' Group has been feeling the same about the hoardings that have been blocking the pavements at the junction of Damside Street and Wood Street. 

Their removal has been promised many times, but a visit by a BUG reporter today found that the latest promise has been kept and the wall is down!

The wall has fallen! Wood Street today.

The hoardings first appeared over two years ago, when work began to convert the derelict shops and amusement arcade at the junction of Damside Street and Wood Street into another example of Lancaster's latest growth industry - student accommodation.

The hoardings completely blocked the pavement along Wood Street, meaning that Stagecoach had to employ banksmen to ensure that buses reversing away from their stands didn't come into contact with pedestrians trying to use the roadway because the pavement was inaccessible.

A crossing to nowhere on Damside Street

The hoardings also blocked the footway on one side of Damside Street and meant that the safe walking route between the bus station and the city centre, which involved crossing Damside Street on the zebra crossing, couldn't be used.

When it became clear that the obstruction wasn't just a temporary feature, the Bus Users' Group began agitating for something to be done to make it safe for passengers going to and from the station. It soon became clear that the problem had arisen due to a lack of co-ordination and co-operation between Lancaster City Council, which had given planning permission for the building work and Lancashire County Council, which as the Highway Authority was responsible for maintaining safe passage for vehicles and pedestrians. The two authorities had just not been talking to each other!  Piggy-in-the-middle was Stagecoach, who now became lumbered with the task of supervising access to the bus station via Wood Street and managing a safety issue that wasn't of their making.

  In January 2020, with the help of County Councillor and BUG member, Lizzi Collinge, we thought we had solved the safety issue when a set of pedestrian-operated signals appeared. Our success, however, was temporary as three months later they were taken away again, apparently when the County Council realised that they would have to pay the hire charge and operating costs from the contractor that provided them!

The conversion work on the buildings was delayed well past its projected completion date and it became clear to the BUG that neither the City not the County Council would take any responsibility for the safety of pedestrians going to and from the bus station. In November 2020 the County Council told us that "we do not have the authority to take things forward", which as they are responsible for highway safety we found frankly amazing.

The developer promised various dates for removal, which came and went and even when the completed accommodation units had been occupied by students the hoardings were still in place, with the blame for the delay now being foisted on another party - United Utilities - who needed to undertake drainage works at the site!

Throughout the process our member and City Councillor, Tim Hamilton-Cox has been a great help to the BUG keeping us informed and putting pressure on the developer to complete the work. Cllr. Hamilton-Cox had extracted a further promise that the hoardings would be gone by today and, for once, that promise has been kept.

Stagecoach need no longer provide the banksmen, which will save them £1,000 a week and more importantly means they can redeploy the staff concerned to what they should have been doing all along - driving buses to help alleviate the current driver shortage. The Wood Street side of the bus station, which has been closed after 19.00hrs at night to avoid incurring yet more banksman costs, can now re-open and evening buses can return to their normal stands. Most importantly of all, there is now once again a safe walking route between the bus station and the city centre.