A RETHINK of the design of Crewe's planned new bus station and accompanying multi-storey car park has been welcomed by Crewe Town Council's leader.

The two-phase Royal Arcade planning application to redevelop the main part of the town centre was submitted in April by Peveril Securities, which is developing the site on behalf Cheshire East Council.

But following criticism of aspects of the scheme during the consultation period, the developer has made some amendments

Among the changes are:

• Including two panels of green wall on the southern elevation of the car park
• Increasing the number of electric vehicle charging points in the car park from six to 20
• Removing the half-deck from the car park's top floor
• Relocating a heritage wall so it is more visible to bus station users

Cllr Jill Rhodes, leader of the town council, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "As leader of Crewe Town Council I'm pleased with the changes which have been made by the developer. It's aesthetically pleasing.

"It has some green aspects. I hope it can be passed by planning and we can get on with the development."

Crewe residents have until September 10 to register their comments on the changes made.

On the changes to include two panels of green wall on the southern elevation of the car park facing Delamere Street, the developer states: "The green wall areas have been positioned at either end of the southern elevation to ensure cross ventilation can still occur in the car park without the need to introduce any mechanical ventilation equipment.

"In addition, a landscape architect has been retained to prepare the submitted scheme for the 11m strip of land in front of the car park up to the back of the footway on Delamere Street.

"This has been designed to provide an attractive area of landscaping with seating and SUDS planting."

The removal of the half-deck from the top floor of the car park means the overall height, scale and mass of the building has been reduced. As a result of this the number of parking spaces has been cut from 411 to 401.

While a planned heritage wall, containing relevant imagery of Crewe, has been relocated from the northern elevation to the western elevation above the bus station.

The developer states: "This feature will be seen by people coming into the bus station along with vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists approaching the town centre from the west."

The Royal Arcade planning application, which has been made to Cheshire East Council, has been split into two phases.

A full application has been submitted for the first phase, which is the demolition of the existing bus station and creation of new bus station together with multi-storey car park and associated landscaping.

An outline application has been submitted for the second phase – the mixed use aspect of the development which includes café/restaurant, a gym, bowling alley, complementary retail uses, cinema and associated public realm works.

Cheshire East bought the Royal Arcade site in April 2015, for £6m.

Demolition work began on Victoria Street and Queensway towards the end of last year.

To view the application and make any comments you can visit the planning portal on Cheshire East Council website and insert the application number 21/2067N.