Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

You never get a second chance to make a first impression, so the old adage goes. What then must new arrivals to Plymouth think when they emerge from their coach, blinking and stretching, to be confronted with the concrete monstrosity known as Bretonside bus station?

We have had occasion to visit this dark place a lot recently to pick up and take our two children who have been shuttling by coach to and fro London by coach as they prepare for their university finals. Each time I go, the anger builds. How can a serious city, the 14th largest in England, offer such a dirty smelly gateway to the city?

Thousands of visitors pour into Plymouth by bus each week from all over the country. I dread to think what impression is created. Do they ever come back?

If visitors do not decide to turn around and go straight home, the next thing they might see is the bombed out church centre at Charles Cross roundabout. I am going to upset a few of you now. Isn’t it time that this ugly relic of a bygone age also bit the dust? I know that for some it represents a monument to the heroic courage displayed by many Plymothians during the Blitz, but we celebrate that wonderful valour every year in so many ways – and rightly so. The preservation of a derelict building on such a pivotal access point to the city simply reinforces the impression of a city stuck in the past, going nowhere. If needs be it could be taken down brick by brick and put up somewhere more suitable as a memorial to Plymouth’s past; enabling us to welcome visitors with a more appropriate statement about our vibrant future.

But I am not holding my breath. I can well remember serving on the City Centre sub committee way back in 1986 when I was first elected onto the Council. With a sense of drama, we voted for three groundbreaking redevelopment schemes that were about to transform our great city: Colin Campbell Court, Drake’s Circus and the Burton’s building on Royal Parade. What happened? Not one of these schemes has been started, seventeen years later.

Plymouth has got massive potential as a twenty-first century city that everyone wants to live in, but many obstacles remain. The bus station is top of my list and it must go.

posted by Nigel on Wednesday, May 21, 2003