ST HELENS INTERCHANGE

Public Consultation

A WELCOMING ARRIVAL AND MEETING PLACE, WHERE PUBLIC TRANSPORT AND ACTIVE TRAVEL COME FIRST

Equipping St Helens with a well-connected, integrated, and accessible public transport system is a key aim of the town centre regeneration programme.

Built on an extended footprint of the current bus station, the new St Helens Interchange will make sure the town’s long-term public transport needs are met, seamlessly providing a more efficient operational layout and vastly improving the experience and safety of passengers, cyclists and pedestrians.

 

BRINGING TOGETHER MULTIPLE TRANSPORT MODES

Bus: An accessible, sheltered, modern and attractive interchange

Train: Real-time service information and better walking and cycling links between transport hubs

Cycle: Secure and convenient indoor and outdoor cycle parking, new cycle lanes and wayfinding 

Walking: 20% more space for pedestrians with improved crossing facilities to key destinations across the town centre, such as Theatre Royal, The Millennium Centre and the Gamble Building

A NEW CIVIC SQUARE AND ATTRACTIVE PUBLIC REALM

Gamble Square, a stunning new civic square, will be created between the St Helens Interchange and the Gamble Building. Featuring street furniture, lighting, CCTV, trees and plants, this public space will bring something new and unique to this area of the town centre. The square will both connect and celebrate some of St Helens’ key buildings, new and old, including the Gamble Building, the Theatre Royal and the new hotel building, all of which will benefit from views across the square.

The Theatre Royal will benefit from both a space that encourages people to stay and mingle before and after performances, and the ability to hold small spill-out events.

Landscape design, planting and pedestrian crossings will separate people from an S-shaped carriageway flowing through the square to take buses to the new interchange.

SAFE AND EFFICIENT

Built in the 1990’s, the current bus station is dated and limits St Helens’ ability to benefit from changes to bus services and the forthcoming bus franchise initiative that will see buses returning to public control. The new interchange would move all bus operations into a safe and controlled environment – better for passengers, drivers and all of us who use the town centre.

A GREENER, MORE ACCESSIBLE AND COMFORTABLE TRANSPORT HUB

The new interchange has been designed to complement the characteristics of the wider regeneration and surrounding area. The facility will feature two fully enclosed concourses (with CCTV), offering spacious and fully sheltered bus waiting areas. Two small building ‘pods’ at alternate ends of the concourses will house a new travel centre and accessible toilets – including a Changing Places facility.

The concourses are enclosed in a glass façade – with extensive glazing to the roof to maximise natural light. The pods are clad in decorative brickwork to reflect the character of the surrounding historic buildings.

THE ST HELENS INTERCHANGE WILL FEATURE:

  • 11 bus stands (compared with 9 currently)
  • 7 bus layover bays (reducing congestion on Corporation Street)
  • A fully enclosed dry, comfortable and temperature-controlled environment
  • Automatic doors at each departure stand
  • Live information screens for buses and train services
  • New accessible public toilets including Changing Places facilities
  • Secure indoor and outdoor cycle parking
  • Improved mobility, with broader pathways, allowing passengers to move more freely
  • More seating options
  • Improved lighting and CCTV coverage, enhancing safety and security
  • A new staffed travel centre
  • Future-proofed to welcome larger and more sustainable buses

SUSTAINABLE BY DESIGN

The interchange benefits from highly sustainable design that includes using recycled, natural and local materials. Solar panels on the main roof will capture energy from the sun and each pod building will feature a green living roof. New greenery introduced in planters along the footpaths will increase biodiversity.

ACCESSIBLE FOR ALL

Using the latest best practice and taking advice from local user groups, the interchange has been designed with accessibility in mind, to ensure all users’ needs and characteristics are catered for. This includes step-free access throughout, clear signage and information, including the use of digital and audio announcements, sensitive use of materials, colours and tactile surfaces, acoustic panels to dampen sound and high-quality, adjustable lighting.

This will enable easy interchange between bus services and create an attractive high-quality space that all in the community feel safe to use.

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

Enhanced Customer Experience: Upgrading facilities and improving user safety.  

Accessibility and Connectivity: Making bus services more accessible for all users and better connected with the town centre.  

Environmental Sustainability: Adding solar panels, green roofs, and increasing green landscaping to boost energy efficiency.

Improved Safety: Enhancing access routes to make walking and crossing roads safer and making the interchange a secure facility to improve personal safety.

A NEW CIVIC SQUARE CONNECTING AND CELEBRATING KEY BUILDINGS

Gamble Square, a stunning new civic square, will be created between the St Helens Interchange and the Gamble Building. Featuring street furniture, lighting, CCTV, trees and plants, this public space will bring something new and unique to this area of the town centre. The square will both connect and celebrate some of St Helens’ key buildings, new and old, including the Gamble Building, the Theatre Royal and the new hotel building, all of which will benefit from views across the square.

The Theatre Royal will benefit from both a space that encourages people to stay and mingle before and after performances, and the ability to hold small spill-out events.

Landscape design, planting and pedestrian crossings will separate people from an S-shaped carriageway flowing through the square to take buses to the new interchange.

GREENING THE TOWN CENTRE

An oak tree in the southern corner of Gamble Square will complement the Gamble Building by symbolising knowledge and additional birch trees will be planted in front of the building, to form an attractive gathering place.

PRIORITISING PEDESTRIANS AND ACTIVE TRAVEL

The St Helens Interchange and Gamble Square will form a key gateway into the town centre, where pedestrians and cycles will take priority, seamlessly integrating with public transport.

This will be achieved by creating a vibrant and welcoming high-quality public realm with clearer, safer routes for pedestrians and cycles and de-cluttered streets. New, formalised and signalised crossing points will enhance pedestrians right of way supported by intuitive wayfinding signage.

The landscape design represents a 20% increase in pavements v carriageways.

GREENER, PEDESTRIAN AND CYCLE FRIENDLY STREETS

Bickerstaffe Street to the west of Hall Street will be pedestrianised, incorporating a partly segregated and shared space cycle lane between the bus station and the new hotel.

Hall Street – between Bickerstaffe and Corporation Street – will be closed to private vehicles and feature a paved pedestrian footpath and cycle lane access point with planting to the edges.

Bickerstaffe Street to the east of Hall Street will see a new layout, with the introduction of a new contraflow cycle lane and new kerb alignments up to Haydock Street and the existing pedestrianised area to the railway station changed to accommodate cycle movements. Vehicularly movements from Haydock Street onto Bickerstaffe Street will only be permitted to turn left and move south along Hall Street.

The junction of Hall Street and Corporation Street adjacent to The Millennium Centre car park will become pedestrianised. Access to the Millennium Centre car park will be through Shaw Street onto Hall Street.

The existing one-way access point from Hardshaw Street onto Corporation Street near Library Street will become pedestrianised, with no through access onto Corporation Street. Instead, vehicularly traffic movements will be rerouted along Vincent Street onto Parade Street.

Pedestrian crossings and continuous footpaths will connect pedestrians along the length of Bickerstaffe Street.

In addition to secure cycle storage inside the bus concourse building, outdoor cycle stands will be introduced to encourage links between active travel and public transport.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

  • Autumn 2024: Detailed planning application submitted
  • Winter 2024:Enabling works
  • Spring 2025: Temporary Bus Hub opens & construction begins
  • Autumn 2026: St Helens Interchange Opens

PEASLEY CROSS ROUNDABOUT IMPROVEMENT SCHEME

Peasley Cross/Parr Street Roundabout is a busy 5-arm junction with limited facilities for walking, cycling, and wheeling. This area is crucial for trips to and from the town centre and railway station, but current infrastructure discourages active travel.

WHY THE JUNCTION IMPROVEMENTS ARE NEEDED

Consultation from our adopted Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan and the Commonplace Liveable Streets crowdsourcing exercise undertaken in 2021, identified the junction as a priority area for active travel improvements.

The current layout provides inadequate facilities to enable walking, cycling and wheeling, especially for those with disabilities, or who depend on mobility aids or those with young children. 

PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS

New and Improved Crossings: New signalised crossings for walking, cycling, and wheeling on Peasley Cross Lane and Parr Street East, with the existing crossing on Linkway East moved closer to the roundabout.

KEY BENEFITS

  • Clearly indicating and simplifying when and where to cross
  • Allowing people walking and cycling to cross multiple vehicle lanes safely
  • Tactile paving and signalised equipment benefit visual, and mobility impaired users cross the road safely
  • New Cycle Tracks: Segregated cycle tracks around the roundabout
  • New Bus Stop: On Peasley Cross Lane for better access to St Helens Retail Park
  • Smart Traffic Signals: To improve journey time benefits to the wider route
  • Highway Improvements: Includes carriageway resurfacing, new road markings, signage and drainage improvements

HOW THE SCHEME IS FUNDED

Funding has been secured from the Department for Transport’s Active Travel Fund.

(Tranche 3) and Liverpool City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement. The funding award is specific to the proposed improvements and cannot fund general highway maintenance.

These enhancements will make the area safer and more accessible, enabling more people to walk, cycle, wheel and use public transport.

HAVE YOUR SAY

This consultation has now closed for comments and your feedback is being analysed by the project team.

St Helens Borough Council and ECF plan to submit a detailed planning application for the St Helens Interchange and associated public spaces, including Gamble Square, later this autumn.

ABOUT US

St Helens Borough Council has formed a 20-year partnership with The English Cities Fund (ECF) to bring forward a once-in-a-generation opportunity to regenerate St Helens Town Centre.

ECF is a partnership between Muse, Legal and General and Homes England. The partnership was formed in 2001 and has worked with councils, landowners and communities to create exceptional places across the UK. ECF brings together investment, regeneration expertise and long-term commitment to shape towns and cities for the better. You can learn more about St Helens Borough Council here and ECF here.

The nationwide place maker, Muse, has almost 40 years of experience creating mixed-use communities across the UK.

Its track record of leading complex, mixed-use regeneration gives it the experience to deliver successful places, with the emphasise on sustainability, community and quality.

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