Rebecca Gough Plans to relocate Thetford's bus station have been branded “questionable” and “inadequate” by a town heritage official.

Rebecca Gough

Plans to relocate Thetford's bus station have been branded “questionable” and “inadequate” by a town heritage official.

Stuart Wilson, chairman of the Thetford Society's environmental committee, criticised plans to move the site from Bridge Street to Minstergate as part of proposals by the Moving Thetford Forward (MTF) board to regenerate the town.

He questioned plans for an old warehouse building on the new site which, he said, would be “completely divorced from the functions of the bus station”, the siting of public toilets, pick up points, which he stressed would be unsafe for pedestrians, and a lack of parking bays and taxi ranks.

In a letter addressed to Tim Edmunds, highways network manager at Norfolk County Council, he said: “I believe that the proposed scheme is neither safe nor effective as a transport system. With the exception of one MTF board member, I know of no other Thetford residents who support moving the bus station to this cramped site.

“Council tax payers' money could be saved by keeping the bus station at its present site - we know it works there. For a fraction of the cost of the move to St Nicholas Street, the Anchor site could be dramatically improved.”

Mr Wilson's comments came after a meeting of the steering committee, on which he was invited to sit. He resigned after one meeting on the grounds that he did not want to be seen to support the project.

Mr Edmunds said: “The provision of a new bus interchange in Thetford is one of a number of projects being taken forward by the Moving Thetford Forward partnership that seeks to help the town grow. “Stuart Wilson, in his role with the Thetford Society, was invited to be part of the steering group that oversees the bus interchange project, which includes the restoration and bringing back into use of a currently derelict listed warehouse.

“While the bus interchange project team are responding to Mr Wilson about the points that he has raised, it is disappointing that he has decided to withdraw from the steering group.”