Archive - Thursday, 17 January 2002


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Cinema delayed yet again

MERRYWALKS Bus Station which was due close in two weeks has been given a reprieve until September.

But although the news of the delay has delighted some of the town's travellers there is growing frustration that the plans for the new cinema are slipping.

At a meeting of Stroud Town Centre Partnership on Monday night it emerged that work on the cinema would not now begin before November.

When the plans were originally unveiled by Stroud District Council it was predicted the bus station would close on February 1, 2002.

But in October last year that date was moved to the end of May. News of the delay provoked a mixed response from the partnership - relief that the bus station had been granted a reprieve coupled with frustration that the scheme seemed to be dragging on and on.

Angry chartered surveyor Andrew Watton said Stroud would remain in limbo until the matter was resolved.

"Merrywalks haunts this town daily," he said. "It scuppers any further development potential."

Barry Wyatt, special projects manager for Stroud District Council, claimed suggestions the bus station may have to close at the end of this month had been misleading.

"That was he earliest anticipated date if everything went ahead extremely quickly," he said.

"We didn't want to be in a position where the trucks were waiting to roll onto the site but we couldn't let them."

He said there were three things holding up the process.

First, the council was still in negotiation with developers Deeley Freed over the development agreement about how much control of the site would be retained by the authority.

Deeley Freed is also still in discussion with prospective tenants which would run parts of the proposed leisure complex, he said.

And finally the developer had yet to resolve the issue of access to the Merrywalks shopping centre with owners Streetlands.

"The cinema scheme could be free standing,' he said on this last issue. "If that happens it would be unfortunate but it can still go ahead."