Lewes bus station: Green Party councillors vow to 'fight on' as closure day looms

The new owners of Lewes bus station, the Generator Group, have rejected East Sussex County Council’s (ESCC’s) request to continue to allow buses to use the Eastgate Street site.

From Friday (September 16), buses will have to stop at the temporary stops that ESCC have been installing around the town, rather than at the purpose-built bus station.

Green County councillor, Wendy Maples, said the plans will lead to increased local pollution and inconvenience for passengers.

Councillor Maples said: “Thanks to Generator Group - and despite the efforts of ESCC to set up temporary bus stops - Lewes will have traffic jams, increased local pollution and inconvenience for passengers. Meanwhile our Bus Station will sit empty.

“Basically, Generator Group is punishing bus users for their own failed development plans. They are using Lewes’s Bus Station – and passengers – as a pawn in a game with the National Park in an appalling attempt to secure permission for non-policy-compliant development plans.”

Last week, the Generator Group’s plans to knock down the bus station buildings and construct 37 flats, three houses and commercial space on the ground floor was discussed by the South Downs National Park Authority’s planning committee.

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The development plans have been hugely unpopular in the town, with a strong campaign mounted to save the bus station, meaning officers recommended refusal.

District Councillor Adrian Ross said: “We need to fight on. The success of the planning application ultimately depends on ESCC deciding whether or not the ‘alternative arrangements’ proposed by Generator Group - a series of inconvenient bus stops - is ‘operationally satisfactory’.

“Well, we are going to prove that it’s not. We have asked the bus companies to send us reports of the problems that they encounter with the new arrangements. We have also requested the detailed running times to assess the additional delays that result.

“We are also asking for passengers, drivers and local residents to record and send us photographs, reports and details of the congestion that they observe or experience around the town.”

The Generator Group have been asked for a comment.