Why we need a smarter coach station

More than 850,000 people use Pool Valley coach station every year but it offers them a very shabby welcome to Brighton and Hove.

First impressions count. Have we got no civic pride? If I arrived by coach, I'd just turn round and go back home. Is that what we want our visitors to do? A boom season for coach travel is predicted but the city is set to miss out.

Tourism is a vital part of Brighton and Hove's economy. But what greets our visitors when they come to our wonderful city?

If you arrive by coach or bus, it is Pool Valley, a disgraceful carbuncle with litter, graffiti, bad lighting and a lack of adequate facilities.

Since we took over the lease on the station six years ago, we have seen the number of passengers rise from 250,000 a year to 850,000.

Recent figures provided by Brighton and Hove City Council show 26 per cent of all visitors staying in the city arrive by coach. In the summer months there are more than 2,000 coach arrivals and departures a week, an average of 285 a day.

Our company has renovated the coach station buildings and facilities, winning awards for the work, but the area surrounding it is the council's responsibility.

As a company, during the past two years we have tried without success to put together an initiative with the council.

The men's and women's toilets have been closed because of repeated vandalism and the lighting has not worked properly for more than a year.

Panes of glass have been broken in the shelters and proper water and steam cleaning of the station has not taken place recently.

The council says the maintenance of the shelters is covered in a contract with Adshel and is under discussion at present. I believe the shelters are the responsibility of the council.

The condition of Pool Valley is very off-putting for elderly people and women travelling on their own.

Not only does the area look disreputable but the poor lighting means that, after dark, some people are scared to be there.

Our company doesn't just serve visitors to Brighton and Hove. It also provides a much needed service for local people - particularly those who cannot afford the high prices of train travel, such as some elderly people and students.

Yet it is the elderly and women travelling on their own who are most afraid to use the coach station.

The buildings were derelict and unoccupied when we took them over. We invested considerable sums of money on refurbishment and opening up a waiting room.

Initially, local authorities did contribute. East Sussex County Council paid for roadworks and Brighton Council paid for some street furniture and the building of a disabled toilet.

This was not sufficient. We realised that, without significant investment, Pool Valley was never going to be anything other than adequate and that it fell short of providing the proper facilities a major coastal resort deserved.

Since that initial investment, we have received a payment from Brighton Council to redecorate the toilets and a shared payment for decorating the outside. All other costs have been met by ourselves and, contrary to popular belief, we do not receive any subsidies of any kind from any source.

The unreliability and sheer expense of train travel these days means more and more people are choosing to travel by coach.

We will not be able to take advantage of this upturn because of the condition of the area. Instead of being able to offer good facilities and additional services, we can hardly maintain the service we do offer.

As a city, we do not cater for or encourage coach operators or their customers. We do not offer the facilities, including safe coach parking, to make Brighton and Hove attractive for operators.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds is lost to other destinations that offer good coach facilities, such as Worthing, Eastbourne and Bournemouth - money which could come to Brighton and Hove.

The council said the station could only accommodate a handful of coaches. It could never provide what tour operator coach drivers need ed by way of facilities and secure parking.

Coaching is split into four sectors: Scheduled services, private hire, tour operators and excursions. The operating requirements for each of are very different.

Pool Valley can provide all the requirements for scheduled services and tour operators because they are pre-planned and organised months in advance.

The private hire and day excursion side of the business is run very much on an ad hoc basis and can only be properly organised through a coach park-type operation.

I appreciate the council has not got spare funds to buy or operate the coach station or even to provide a subsidy. But it does have Black Rock and Madeira Drive, which are under-used and poorly administered as a coach and car park.

Promises of redevelopment have never materialised and the likely scenario is that they will be passed over to NCP as part of the on-going contract with the council. If this happens, then the money from this area will go out of the city.

What I have proposed is that my company is allowed to operate Black Rock and Madeira drive as a coach and car park, provide some additional facilities and, with the revenue from the parking going back into the coach station, provide the necessary funding to maintain ongoing costs The council has rejected this suggestion as unviable, despite our company operating highly-successful coach parking schemes in those areas in previous years.

The city is losing hundreds of thousands of pounds of potential revenue because it lacks the necessary infrastructure to support coach travel.

We have an opportunity to put this right by utilising our existing assets to their full advantage with no cost to the public purse.

My company will put time, effort and money into any initiative that benefits the Pool Valley area and the coach station.

But if there is no initiative from the council, we will be forced to review our long-term commitment to the area as the situation is becoming increasingly untenable.