FOLLOWING on from yesterday's news article about the 'proposed bus interchange' the Cornish Times spoke with Cornwall Councillor for Liskeard Central Nick Craker to find out more about the interchange plans for the former Cattle Market site. 

The demolition of the former ATS building on Dean Street and the Coronation Hall on Fairpark Rd will allow for a wider access point at the junction, he explained. The intention is that buses will turn in from Dean Street and turn right where the hall is currently located, pulling in to spaces either side of the Market Cafe. Buses will then loop round and exit the Cattle Market by the same road as they came in. 

“The bus companies have said for a number of years that they really struggle with the limited space on The Parade to stop and to rest. Quite often you have several buses coming in at the same time. 

“The Active Travel project was a big public survey and was talking to people about how they come into and move around Liskeard, whether by car, public transport, cycle or on foot. People were asked if in principle they supported having buses at the Cattle Market and about 60 to 70 per cent were in support. 

“There were other proposals in there, like having buses only on Castle Street, that there just wasn’t support for, so they were dropped. It was a genuine consultation; the things that there was support for, we are progressing.” 

At present, said Cllr Craker, it’s not known whether buses will continue to stop off on Barras Street once the interchange is operational. 

“I think that’s another bit of consultation we need to do. Do we want to keep this area as bus stops, or use it for something else, whether this be taxi bays, loading areas, parking, or something different?” 

Addressing concerns that pedestrians and buses won’t mix well on the site, Cllr Craker said: “The Cattle Market is currently a car park, cars and people have been mixing there for years without any particular issue. When the doctors surgery has expanded there’ll be better access there as well, there’ll be proper places for dropping off.  The buses will be coming in and dropping near to the Integrated Services Hub. As a whole, there will be better connecting footpaths and pedestrian areas.” 

While parking spaces will be reduced during the construction of the new hub, once all the redevelopment projects are complete, there will be no overall net loss of parking at the Cattle Market site, says Cllr Craker. 

“New spaces will be created where the old sheep pens have been. We’ve been clear that there is no extra space for more development because we need the parking for the town.” 

Anger and disappointment has been expressed many times along the way by people who feel that the views of individuals and groups have not been taken into account over what should be done on the Cattle Market. 

“You can’t please all the people all the time,” said Cllr Craker. 

“It can be frustrating for councillors because people come up with good ideas, but often funding from government or council is for a specific sort of thing. There just aren’t grants for cinemas or bowling alleys. You can have good ideas but you need the funding for it, or investment and an operator to run it. It’s not always as easy as people think.” 

Councillors have to do their best to take forward the views that they feel represent the different groups of people in the town, often with low engagement to consultation, he added. 

“There are 10,000 people in Liskeard and we only get a few hundred who respond to surveys. The vast majority of people don’t make their views known on social media either. You might get 25 who are either really angry or really supportive of something, but that might not represent all 10,000 people in Liskeard.”