Buses banned from stopping at Potteries Museum - and now schools are cancelling Staffordshire Hoard trips
COACHES taking schoolchildren and tourists to see the Staffordshire Hoard have been banned from stopping outside the region's biggest museum.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council is warning coach drivers they will be hit with parking tickets for dropping off visitors at bus stops outside the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Bethesda Street, Hanley.
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The Potteries Museum - home of the Staffordshire Hoard.
They are instead being ordered to drop off coach loads at Piccadilly – forcing visiting groups to walk to the museum – and park up in Clough Street.
The Sentinel has learned schools have started cancelling trips over safety fears, forcing the council to admit it is rethinking its new rules.
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Changes being imposed to cut congestion ahead of the opening of the new city centre bus station will also see coach drivers warned they face fines for using city centre bus lanes.
Local bus services will be allowed to stop on Bethesda Street, which will become a main bus route when Hanley's new station finally opens.
Stoke-on-Trent District Disability Network said the decision, combined with the withdrawal of disabled parking spaces on Bethesda Street, will make the museum 'virtually inaccessible'.
Network vice-chairman Pam Bryan, a former school teacher, of Weston Coyney, said: "It is absolutely ridiculous. I just cannot understand it.
"Coach drivers are not asking to park for hours – they just want to drop off visitors at the bus stops which are already there.
"If I was arranging to take a party of children to the museum I would have to think again because of the risk assessment. I took groups of 30 children there as a teacher and it is hard enough making sure they can safely cross one road.
"We are talking about a renowned museum with brilliant exhibitions which the council is making virtually inaccessible."
Doug Wardle, founder and former owner of the Wardle Transport bus company, said he would raise the issue as chairman of the City Centre Partnership.
He added: "More consultation between the council and the coach operators is needed to get this ironed out and I'll be raising it at the next meeting."
Peter Vigurs, deputy chairman of the Friends of Potteries Museum charity, said: "It's very frustrating to think that the previously very good access to the building has been compromised.
"It is very common to see disabled visitors as, unlike some museums, it is very easy for them to get around inside.
"School parties had started to cancel and the manager is very concerned about that, to put it mildly, and it has been raised."
The city council has now pledged to review the new rules to find a 'workable solution' for schools and is considering new disabled parking spaces near the entrance to the museum's cafe.
Councillor Ruth Rosenau, cabinet member for regeneration, planning and transport, said: "The changes to bus routes mean some local buses on scheduled services use the two new bus stops directly outside the museum.
"If coaches use these stops as well it creates problems for normal services, because of the length of time that they take to load and unload."
Comments
by smallblackcat
Tuesday, January 22 2013, 9:53AM
“Isn't it time some of you learned how to spell.
How far is it from Piccadilly to the Museum? 100 yards or so. What is it with teachers that they can't manage a group of children for 100 yards and can't manage to cross two quiet roads with them. You do wonder about the mentality of some people who claim "health and safety" as the reason for not taking children to the best museum in the area and instead go to Newcastle. You also wonder who raised this with the Sentinel and what they have to gain from making such a fuss out of nothing.”
by stokepotter
Monday, January 21 2013, 11:25PM
“'Jokerjohnny' unfortunately Messrs Blair and Brown would be unlikely to come back as they are too busy earning their millions like all good Labourites.”
by mole10
Monday, January 21 2013, 11:43AM
“I blame Margaret Thatcher.
A Labour Council would always allow a bus to drop off at a museum, especially if it was on a museum visit.
Thatcher didn't know what she was doing.”
by jokerjohnny
Sunday, January 20 2013, 9:23PM
“its thatcher and camerons fault end of.bring back blair and brown more jobs and less immagration .”
by gormhenghast
Sunday, January 20 2013, 3:16PM
“Simples GO ELSE WHERE, when the Pervez mafia get the idea that they are doing wrong, then and only then will they get the Princes Trust and associated hangers on at Middleport involved and they will MILK it DRY, putting it right of course.”
by I_Norris
Sunday, January 20 2013, 3:10PM
“Hows misinforming? his quote from 2009 report to Cabinet from task and Finish which was accepted.
We have heard that the construction of the bus station could be left to the
developer to build, if this happens we could be repeating the mistakes made with
the bus station at Newcastle-under-Lyme where a shopping precinct was build by a
developer on the former bus station and a smaller replacement bus station built on
spare land across the road. The station was designed to fit in a smaller space with
as little expenditure as possible with little consideration of the operational and
passengers needs. It received extensive criticism and it has received three
facelifts within in a few years. This has also resulted in additional costs to the local
authority. These costs continue as a 'banksman' is required to assist reversing
vehicles due to the lack of space. The layout is still extremely tight with lots of
vehicle/pedestrian conflict and little space for pedestrians to walk between bays
when the station is busy. We must not repeat this mistake
As the bus station will be the first of many major developments in the city it is
important it sends out the right message that good design and quality will shape
these developments. We need to start as we mean to go on.
Sadly the reserved matters werent submitted until March 2011”
by I_Norris
Sunday, January 20 2013, 2:53PM
“FFDP1: Dont think I've ever said any different that Brian Ward was Cabinet member responsible for the New Bus Station”
by FFDP1
Sunday, January 20 2013, 2:48PM
“There we go, red arrows for starring the truth, just shows how some round hear work on at best misinformation and at the worst outright lies.”
by dougalcross
Sunday, January 20 2013, 2:12PM
“@ Focus386
Nice idea, but too many words, I think. I prefer
STALAG STOKE
KEEP OUT”
by SPBT1976
Sunday, January 20 2013, 1:12PM
“The whole lot are utter incompetants. Their idea of planning is create something new. Hang on,we can't afford it.Don't worry about that,we'll borrow it and pay it back later.The locals will keep voting us in anyway. If we muck it up, our mates in office will give us the golden payoff probably with glowing references as well.In a few months/years we'll have moved onto another gravy train somewhere anyway. Oh and the problems the original planning creates,just move it somewhere else i.e. Clough St. Total mayhem just before Christmas. Doesn't matter that some of us have to live or try to run business's there. But there is hope, if you are serious in the aim of removing these buffoons, especially before the next elections.
Sign the online petition at epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/41825
It needs a lot but if it hits the target the Government has to take notice! These petitions do work but you have to commit your support. This one is already up and running.Come on fellow Stokies,you helped the Staffordshire Regiment. Now do it for yourselves!”