Bus plans face backlash (From Stroud News and Journal)

Bus plans face backlash

CAMPAIGNERS wanting better buses are gearing up for a battle to save Stroud's beleaguered bus station - or find an adequate alternative.

Planners are facing a backlash from a community which seems to feel Stroud District Council's preferred option is not the people's choice.

Public opinion has been fired by the realisation that it is now less than six months before the planned closure of the bus station and a convenient alternative site still has not been found.

People from all walks of life are now getting together to block what they see as the loss of an important public facility.

"What we're going to end up with at the moment is a half-way house for the next three to five years," said Graham Stanley, one of the co-ordinators of the fledgling campaign.

"We want them the council to revisit the plans," he said. "We want to have an improved bus station and a cinema, not one or the other."

Elizabeth Sergeant, another campaign member, said: "It's the old story that the public haven't been told what is happening.

"The people of Stroud are getting to the stage of thinking: 'what's the point of saying anything because they'll do it anyway'."