'We don't need a new bus station'

The death of Joyce Rigby, 61, of Fairfield Street, after she was knocked down by a bus in Peel Street last October, prompted a review of the current site.

And in March plans for a new, state-of-the-art station behind Kwik Save, in Union Street, were revealed.

But Hyndburn Council regeneration director Nigel Rix has warned that the bus station could still be a few years away, with Lancashire County Council only at the 'feasibility study stage'. It is envisaged, however, it would be similar to the space-age bus stations recently built in Burnley and Chorley.

Coun Britcliffe told a town centre regeneration committee: "I don't think we need a new bus station, and all this talk of one is at the expense of the immediate problem of sorting out what goes on at Peel Street at the moment.

"There is real congestion there, and I fear that there will be another accident and death there before too long, before any new bus station is built.

"After the death last year, we were supposed to be looking to see if the area around Peel Street could be improved. That hasn't happened because everyone has got carried away by a new bus station.

"We've had consultants in before who've said the solution is to spread the bus stops around the town, so the buses aren't all congregating in one place. I don't think a bus station is an option in Accrington."

Mr Rix said he would ensure that the current study tackled short-term solutions to the Peel Street area as well.

Police have already carried out parking enforcement in the Peel Street area to punish drivers who park illegally there.

County Coun Wendy Dwyer said: "I think the bus station is an excellent idea. You only have to listen to people in Burnley and Chorley to realise that."

A spokesman for Lancashire United, one of the bus operators to use the Peel Street bus station, said: "Something does need to be done, especially if more operators are planning to run services from there."