I take it you are being pedantic simply because I used the term bus station instead of coach station! :roll:
No I wasn't being pedantic, the following article mentions a caoch park which I would assume to be a pick up/ drop off / parking area for visiting coach services such as National Holidays etc rather than for scheduled local bus services.
Anyway here is the article in it's entireity so make up your own mind:-
Leisure complex to be built on Bretonside in £50million Plymouth city centre overhaul
By Plymouth Herald | Posted: March 25, 2014
By KEITH ROSSITER Political Reporter @krossiter
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THE decrepit Bretonside bus station is to be torn down and a 12-screen cinema and restaurant complex will be built in its place.
The bus station will be moved to a new “coach hub” on the old Mayflower West car park.
The schemes are part of a £50million transformation of Plymouth city centre unveiled this afternoon by council leader Tudor Evans.
British Land, which owns Drake Circus and is the UK’s largest listed retail landlord, is to buy Bretonside coach station.
The company will build a cinema complex, including an Imax cinema in a £42million development, which is to open in 2017.
The new complex will restore the links between the city centre and the Barbican and waterfront.
‘Drake Circus Leisure’ includes a 12-screen cinema complex, 13 restaurants and parking for 420 cars on two levels.
Cllr Evans said: “This is a company with a proven record of delivering in Plymouth and for Plymouth, and while it is early days this looks an incredibly exciting prospect.
“Our city centre supports more than 14,000 jobs and 14 per cent of the workforce, but we need to need to mix things up a bit, bring more business and a wider offer into the city centre – which in turn brings in more people to shop, eat and enjoy what we have here.”
Cllr Mark Lowry, the Cabinet member for finance , said: “For a long time we have recognised that Bretonside has long passed its sell-by date. We also want to keep shoppers coming into the West End. These two schemes have the potential to address both of these.”
He said British Land had been “talking to the market” and already had sufficient interest in the development.
The ambitious city centre plan will see improvements to Old Town Street and Frankfort Gate, and a new children’s play area in Armada Way.
The city council will open a new front office for 80 staff in the old Lawson Building in New George Street.
The council is moving out of the Civic Centre by the end of this year and the building will be handed over to Argyle boss James Brent to redevelop as a hotel.
The city centre has already seen a £7.3million refurbishment of the Theatre Royal and its surrounds.
The university is building a £7million performing arts centre on North Hill, and Plymouth College of Art is spending £8million on its new workshops at Drake Circus.
The historic Drake’s Reservoir on North Hill has been restored thanks to £1.4million of Heritage Lottery Fund cash.
Meanwhile, the city is bidding to transform the City Museum into £24million History Centre.
Cllr Lowry said plans to redevelop Colin Campbell Court in the West End were pushing ahead.
As part of the proposals a new £2million multi-million pound coach hub is envisaged on the site of the soon-to-be-demolished Mayflower West car park, in the West End.
There will also be street-level public parking for 120 cars.
The agreement means that both Bretonside and the West End of Plymouth will see investment worth millions of pounds, which in turn will generate a new level of interest in both areas. It will also create almost 350 operational jobs and around 260 construction jobs.
Doug Fletcher, chair of the City Centre Company, said: “I am delighted to see the council prioritising the city centre given its importance to Plymouth.
“The Plan for the City Centre is to be welcomed and in particular it is pleasing that the West End is being prioritised with a new coach station and council premises becoming major new anchors and driving vital footfall.”
Conservative Opposition Leader Cllr Ian Bowyer said: “There are some potential problems with these proposals.
"Naturally we welcome and support the general policy of bringing forward plans to revitalise and redevelop our city centre but plans are plans and we need to see action to make it happen."
He said Government policies had put in place an economic recovery, but added: "I do wonder whether the council has factored in the amazing growth in internet shopping when deciding to how to best support the city’s traders and shoppers.
"Is the local economy strong enough to support and sustain another 13 restaurants on the Viaduct?
"How will this impact on the Barbican, the Hoe, and Royal William Yard?"
He said he wished the plans had reconnected the bombed-out Charles Church to the city.
Cllr Ian Darcy, the Conservative spokesman for economic development, was concerned about “cinema saturation” in the city.
"I doubt there is demand for a further 12 screens in the City Centre, less than a mile from the existing offering at Coxside.
"These plans seem to concentrate on leisure activities, rather than bringing full-time quality jobs to Plymouth."
He was also concerned about the impact of the Bretonside plans on independent traders in the West End.
"This could turn out to be the final nail in the coffin for the West End.
"We have been pressing Labour to produce a strategic plan to address the future for our city centre yet all we seem to get is ad hoc tinkering around the edges.
"It’s time the council got serious about the city centre.”
Bretonside redevelopment
The £42million Drake Circus Leisure development at Bretonside will see extensive improvements to public areas with features, installations seating and planting.
Stairs will lead through the development, from Bretonside to Exeter Street and Old Town Street, transforming the link between the city centre and the Barbican and Waterfront.
The scheme will make it more attractive and easier for visitors and shoppers to move from one to the other.
Exeter Street Viaduct will become a “shared space” road, with bus stops outside the new development.
“We intend to remove all the ugly and dated street furniture and put in natural materials to upgrade that part of the city,” Cllr Lowry said.
Passers by along what is now Exeter Street Viaduct will see restaurant windows instead of blank walls.
The restaurants themselves will have views to the south of Sutton Harbour and the Barbican.
“We have spent a lot of time ensuring that this addresses our needs as a city,” Cllr Lowry said.
The developments are all subject to the normal planning procedures, and will require detailed design.
Cllr Lowry said: “For some time we have been trying to redevelop Bretonside because it’s something of an eyesore and people constantly write to The Herald about it.”
He was confident that the project would go ahead. “British Land does not need to borrow the money to do this. It’s a FTSE 100 company with hundreds of millions in cash and clearly is looking to spend some of that in a productive way.”
The project has taken 12 to 18 months to get to this stage, and has involved land deals, due diligence processes and legal agreements to be drawn up.
The new development will bring in about £1million a year in business rates for the council, which will help to pay for public services.
New coach station
The Mayflower Coach Station on the footprint of the old Mayflower West car park will be a hub for intercity coach services.
There will be seven bays for long-distance coach services, waiting room, booking office, toilets and
significant improvements to the look and feel of the streets around the site as well as more parking.
The existing accesses to the Mayflower West car park will be retained and improved.
The bridge link to Sainsbury’s will be demolished.
The coach station will also have a taxi rank.
Passengers will be able to get to their coaches through these entrances or through a new gateway, ticket office and waiting area in Taylor Maxwell House.
Cllr Lowry said: “People arriving or leaving will be in the town and can use all the city’s facilities.
“They will also be closer to the train station if necessary.
“We have estimated that the coach station alone will bring 200,000 people a year to that part of the city centre.
“This forms a substantial part of our plan to support and revitalise the city centre. There is still a long way to go, but this shows our commitment.”
He said the sale of the Bretonside site to British Land will over the cost of redeveloping the Mayflower West site.
Innovation centre
The council has bought Taylor Maxwell House, which is home to an Iceland store on the ground level and empty offices above.
The council is working with Plymouth University in a joint venture to create an ‘innovation centre’ in the now empty offices.
The centre would house start-ups businesses run by graduates.
Professor Julian Beer, the university’s Pro Vice-Chancellor (regional enterprise), said: “The new innovation centre will offer a pathway into the city’s economy and marketplace for talented graduates and young entrepreneurs, and will work in tandem with our Formation Zone incubation spaces here on campus, the Science Park, and the GAIN network.
“From our experience of running the hugely successful Innovation Centres in Cornwall, such creative ecosystems offer a great opportunity for businesses to work together and develop joint pitches and expertise.”
Shopping evolves
Cllr Lowry said the change in shopping behaviour made the city centre transformation essential.
The average UK consumer now spends £2,500 a year online. Online spending grew 12per cent last year.
“We have to think differently about how the city centre feels.”
Paul Barnard said that 14per cent of the city’s jobs are in the city centre, and the council has a strong track record of resisting out-of-town shopping developments.
Read more:
http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Lei...tory-20849595-detail/story.html#ixzz2x6I5hQ19
