FARNWORTH’S proposed new bus station is a joke. The proposal is not for a new bus station but new bus shelters, open cycle-racks, and new pathways with hand-rails. There is no new waiting area sheltered from the elements or any toilets.

Relative to Bolton’s new bus station — population or number of buses using the town — Farnworth has been short-changed. For every £1 spent on Farnworth’s proposed bus station, £76 is being spent on Bolton’s bus station. Farnworth gets public funds amounting to £630,000 yet Bolton gets £48 million.

It is astonishing to believe that the potential development in Farnworth Town Centre by St Modwen will be kick-started by a few new bus-shelters as suggested by the town’s councillors. Bolton Council really needs to buck its ideas up if it is serious about the regeneration of Farnworth town centre.

Paul Heslop

Farnworth and Kearsley First