BLACKBURN’S delayed £4.7 million new bus station has a new arrival date – Easter next year.

The passenger concourse is now surrounded by 66 of the 134 glass panels providing the shell of the dramatic building.

MORE TOP STORIES:

The remaining specially-made five-metre by 1.5-metre panes of reinforced glass should surround the ‘hub’ housing the staff offices and canteen and passenger toilets and information kiosk by Christmas.

Paving the concourse should start shortly, although the ‘goalposts’ for the 14 bus bays are in place, the sliding entrance door will not be fitted till January.

All but one of the glass reinforced plastic loops down the central aisle, based on cloth hanging in Victorian cotton mills, are now installed.

Work on a special black granite-faced outdoor pedestrian seating area with trees and plants will start next year The bus station was originally planned to open in December 2014 before Blackburn with Darwen Council sacked original contractors Thomas Barnes Group in June.

Then, after Eric Wright Construction took over the project, hopes were raised that it could be finished before Christmas only to be dashed by borough regeneration chief Phil Riley in September.

Now the firms’ Blackburn-born managing director John Wilson has given a new timetable for completion hoping his company can deliver ahead of the end of March deadline.

Raised in Queen’s Park, he said: “I am a Blackburn lad and this is a very exciting project.

“I appreciate the public of Blackburn have been waiting in the cold for two winters for this scheme to be completed.

“We now expect to have it ready and operating by Easter factoring in winter weather conditions.

“If everything goes well, I would hope to finished before then but we have to get everything perfect.”

Cllr Riley said: “I am glad we now have a realistic timetable.

“The public can see the progress now being made.”

Exterior paving on Ainsworth Street is now complete up to the new mall entrance works. The main hard-standing for the buses to wait is complete other than a final ‘hardicrete’ dressing to be added.