ACCRINGTON’S new £6.4 million bus station is starting to take shape.

Contractors started work on the controversial station in Crawshaw Street in February.

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And it is starting to look increasingly like artists’ impressions of the bus hub, part of the Pennine Reach Scheme, which will greet visitors arriving in the town by coach when it is opened next March.

Public and integrated transport technical support officer at the county council, Greg Bonner, said: “Works have now started on erecting the steelwork required for the station building.

“The visible framework is the steel required for the internal structure of the building where the ancillary accommodation for the bus station will be located.

“The outline of the outer edge of the building is visible on the ground, and the steelwork for the external walls will be the next element to be put in place along this outline.

“Works on the retaining walls at the edge of the site are progressing well, particularly on the Eastern edge of the site.”

The latest construction work started on Monday, August 10, and was expected to take three weeks to complete.

Plans to move the bus station from Peel Street were passed in October, despite a hundreds-strong petition calling for the facility to stay where it is.

Traders had protested to Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles, who ordered a public inquiry in June.

Newsagent Mushqut Juwale, owner of Smithson Newsagents in Peel Street, wrote to Mr Pickles and asked him to visit the town.

Mr Juwale told him: “This proposed relocation would effectively destroy an already-failing market town and would see many traders cease trading in what is already a fragile market.”

But Mr Pickles approved the compulsory purchases for the building to go ahead.

Opponents, including Mario Sarchet from Peter’s Jewellers, in Blackburn Road, Accrington, said they were very disappointed.

Peter’s Jewellers previously said moving the bus station would be the ‘final nail in the coffin’ and would see businesses close.

Last year, a survey of 50 town-centre shops revealed that only three agreed with plans for the new station, but council leader Miles Parkinson called it ‘fantastic news for the town’.