THIS is how Accrington’s new £6.4 million bus station will look when work is completed.

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

Now artists’ impressions of the bus hub, part of the Pennine Reach Scheme, reveal for the first time just what will greet visitors arriving in the town by coach when it is opened next March.

A council spokesman said: “The station is part of a wider project to link townships together across East Lancashire through bus and rail networks and includes new terminals at Accrington and Blackburn, plus the upgrading of bus stops and the creation of electronic bus lanes which give public transport priority at traffic lights.”

The 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 and become bankrupt from what is already a fragile market.”

But Mr Pickles approved the compulsory purchase order needed for the move to go ahead.

Council leader Miles Parkinson said: “This is fantastic news for the town.”

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.

A spokesman said: “Our footfall would drop and the pattern through town would change. A ten to 15 per cent drop in trade would finish us as a business, and you can easily see that happening.”

Last year, a survey of 50 town-centre shops revealed that only three agreed with plans for the new station.

Bus operators Pilkington Bus and M & M Coaches are based in Accrington, and Holmeswood Coaches, Rossendalebus and Transdev subsidiaries Burnley & Pendle and Lancashire United also provide bus services in the town. Routes serve places such as Blackburn, Oswaldtwistle, Rishton, Burnley and Clitheroe.The car park in Crawshaw Street, which will house the new bus station, was closed to the public on Friday.