The Medway
Council website tells us:
"With its modern, sleek design and
open surroundings, Chatham Waterfront Bus Station presents a much more welcoming
reception to the bustling heart of Medway.
Services run from the station seven
days a week serving destinations across Medway and Kent.
At the Chatham Waterfront Bus Station
there is also a Travel Information Centre where information can be obtained on
all bus services and tickets can be purchased.
Chatham Waterfront consists of four
platforms labelled A, B, C and D - each with a number of individual stops on
them. And while the bus stop people catch their service from may change, they
will always go to the same platform for a particular
destination."
The BBC website carried a report for the opening:
"A controversial £7m bus station has
opened in a Medway town five months late and over budget.
The bus station cost almost £2m more
than originally planned, of which the council has had to spend nearly £750,000
more than expected.
Chatham Waterfront bus station, which
will be used by 1,100 buses every day, is said by Medway Council to be a key
part of the regeneration of the town.
But many residents feel it has been a
waste of money.
Some say it is too far away from the
main shopping centre, in an exposed site next to the river.
Council leader Rodney Chambers said
it was an easy-to-use facility.
The new bus station, covered with
wooden cladding and a green "living" roof, replaces a 1970s concrete structure
at the Pentagon shopping centre.
The Sir John Hawkins flyover was
demolished in 2008 to make way for it.
Ghislane Smith, from clothing
retailer A F Smith and Sons in Chatham High Street, said most people were
against the bus station being moved out of the Pentagon.
"We have had customers coming into
the shop and saying they are not going to come to Chatham because of having to
cross the road and go out in the weather," she said.
'Poorly-run
project'
Vince Maple, deputy leader of the
Labour opposition, said the bus station was in the wrong place.
"Residents with disabilities are
going to find it difficult to get over here and use it," he
said.
"The people of Medway were not
consulted on where they wanted this to be. They feel it is a waste of money and
a poorly-run project."
Conservative Mr Chambers said: "There
was extensive consultation on three sites and this is the one that got the most
approval.
"When we removed the flyover I was
told that the heavens would fall upon me.
"People are now saying it was one of
the best things we have done to improve the environment. This bus station is
just part of enormous programme of regenerating
Chatham."