Lewes Bus Station - Bid to stop it becoming a listed building

Listing the building would preserve it from demolition.

Multiple applications have been made to Historic England to list the station.

At the same time the Generator Group have applied to Historic England, which reports to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, for a certificate of immunity from listing the bus station and garage.

The 20th Century Society has sought to save the building from demolition by submitting an application to Historic England to list the 1950s building as being of special architectural or historic interest. The building is described as a rare example of a small post-war purpose-built bus station in a county town.

A spokesperson for Generator Group said: "After we became aware of the recent application to list the former Lewes Bus Station, we

submitted our response to Historic England requesting immunity from listing.

"The expert heritage advice we have been given is that the Local Planning Authority have never

identified the site as either a ’nondesignated heritage asset’ or a ‘positive contributor to the character and appearance of Lewes’.

"Indeed, it is identified by the LPA in their appraisal document as an ‘Area for Enhancement’ and the site has been allocated in the Lewes Local

Plan for development since 2003.’

Southdown Motor Services developed the site as a bus station and bus garage in the 1950s.

However the property has not housed a bus station since Southdown Motor Services/Stagecoach sold it off in 2006, when it was deemed no longer operationally necessary.

It was agreed by the owner of the site at the time that East Sussex County Council and the bus companies could on a temporary licence basis, continue to use the tarmac areas of the bus station for dropping off and picking up passengers only.