Cardiff City Council has said there will be no bus station in the city before 2020, the Western Mail reported.
The new station was expected to be funded by office spaces and private flats above, but in July 2017, it was revealed that the plans weren’t viable in the current economic climate.
Instead, the council said it would draw up a new plan funded by student accommodation above the bus station. However, the cabinet member in charge, Russell Goodway, has now launched an entirely new ‘twin track’ strategy, and said the council was going to pursue two approaches at the same time.
It has asked the developer to go back to the drawing board and put in a fresh planning application by December. It has been asked to develop proposals for a bus station funded by small amount of office element, private rented and student accommodation and potentially a hotel.
At the same time, the council and Welsh Government is also looking into an entirely office-based scheme that might fund the development and is looking for a single investor to take the entire scheme.
Cllr Goodway told councillors: “The administration has been working alongside Welsh Government, to pursue a potential inward investor whose requirement appears to match the bus station offer. I met with the potential inward investor in London earlier this year and I am aware that Cabinet Secretary Skates met with them as recently as this month.
“It is now clear that the company’s timeframe for making a final decision does not suit our needs to make urgent progress on the bus station project.”
