Mayor Dave - Transformation of Allhallows Car Park Another Major Step Forward for Bus Station Area

On the eve of its reopening last Thursday following its latest phase of refurbishment, Mayor Dave Hodgson visited Allhallows multi-storey car park at the bus station to check on the progress of its transformation as part of the regeneration of the area. The much-needed, multi-million pound refurbishment of the car park is a major feature of the bus station regeneration works which also include new toilets, a new surface car park, new shop fronts and more, all in addition to a brand new bus station.

The refurbishment has taken place in stages in order to allow most of it to remain operational during the works in order to minimise inconvenience to car park users and to businesses in the area, but the latest phase of works included the installation of new customer lifts as well as improvements to the vehicle entrance and exit ramps on Brace Street, so temporary closure was unavoidable. However, the works were completed under budget and on time, meaning the car park will reopen to the public as planned before the Easter Bank Holiday Weekend.

The re-opened car park now operates on a pay-on-foot system, which is already in use at River Street and Queen Street multi-storey car parks. This replaces the former pay and display arrangement, and means that people can stay as long they wish in town and simply pay for the time they have used, rather than worrying about their parking expiring.

Your can see some photos of the refurbished car park taken during Dave's look around last week on his Facebook page: www.facebook.com/davethemayor

Commenting, Mayor Dave Hodgson said: "The reopening of the Allhallows car park is another important step forward in building the new Bedford Bus Station.'

"The car park has brand new customer lifts, brand new public toilets as well as major improvements to the parking levels and exterior. There is still more work to be done but reopening to the public is an important step forward.'

"Bedford Bus Station has let our town centre down for far too long and we are pleased that progress is continuing so swiftly to create the new Bedford Bus Station."

For further information on the new Bedford Bus Station, including a link to the latest images from the webcam showing the progress towards the new bus station itself, see www.bedford.gov.uk/busstation