Letter: Gateway scheme does nothing for bus passengers

The scheme is certainly not designed to improve life for bus passengers. Bus companies have confirmed this and may well withdraw all services to the station as soon as work starts, apart from the Broughton Road service to and from Colne which has recently been halved.

It is doubtful if the services will return as no or inadequate provision has been made for buses in the scheme. A lot of public money is to be spent to destroy the existing arrangements for bus/rail interchange or make them worse.

It is certainly not the way to get people out of cars to design around the car rather than around the bus – the bus stop and turning space near the station entrance currently used by buses will become car parking.

It would be much cheaper to spend less on destroying bus/rail interchange and if better public transport links are really wanted, for North Yorkshire Council and the government to cough up so that the Grassington-Skipton bus link could continue to serve Morrisons and the railway station regularly as it did until recently and to restore the half-hour frequency of the Colne service so that there are once again frequent regular buses between the rail station, bus station and town.

Claire Nash Skipton Town councillor (Green Party)

Skipton