THE concourse and entrance to Bolton railway station is to be rebuilt with a new road off Newport Street serving passengers.

More pick-up and drop-off spaces are to be provided at Bolton station under modified plans which will see the current Trinity Street area, which is often congested with vehicles stopping for passengers to exit and enter vehicles, no longer used for that purpose.

In November town planners deferred a decision on proposals to demolish the former bus station concourse and construct a new road on Newport Street and they felt it did not leave enough room for vehicles picking up and dropping off passengers.

Councillors heard the existing drop-off area on Trinity Street is problematic and “often misused”.

Bolton Council’s planning committee have now approved modified plans for the new area with 18 drop-off and pick-up spaces.

Trinity Street would not be used for that purpose and the current parking zone there will be replaced by a cycle lane.

There will be room for 13 taxis at the new station entrance.

The plans form part of the Salford Bolton Network Improvements Programme.

being delivered by Bolton Council, Salford City Council and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and is aimed at improving journey times and reliability for buses and general motorists along the corridor linking Bolton and Salford .

A planning report on the new station concourse, said: “The area will be developed as a drop-off for the rail station for both private vehicles and taxis.

“This will enable the often misused drop-off area on Trinity Street to be removed and a two way cycle track put in its place between the junctions, improving traffic flow along Trinity Street.

“This cycle track will then go through the newly-developed interchange site and along Newport Street towards the town centre.

“The existing drop-off area is regularly abused by users preferring to double park as close to the rail station entrance rather than utilising available spaces further along the layby.”