NOT long ago Wiltshire Council had a gun put to its head by our present bus company, Salisbury lost a bus station and was forced to provide additional bus stops on already overcrowded roads.

It appears that this is happening again.

We now hear that the coach station is earmarked for housing and has been sold to the developer of the Maltings.

What an earth is going on?

Surely it is not Wiltshire Council that should provide an alternative site, it should be Stanhope.

The relocation to Brown Street, pictured right, with its pathetic attempt at creating visitor facilities is not good enough and does not solve the traffic problems caused by the coaches entering the city.

Stanhope should incorporate a coach drop-off point into their new development, providing easy access for coaches, facilities for visitors including toilets and an information point.

It also needs to be strategically placed to ensure that the thousands of visitors who come to our city are herded past shops and coffee shops on the way to the cathedral and other points of interest. The central car park is an ideal site, allowing coaches to enter and exit quickly to and from the ring road thus avoiding the narrow city streets.

This new development must not be half-hearted.

While Stanhope and to a lesser extent Wiltshire Council can walk away once the project is completed, the residents and small businesses in Salisbury inherit the fallout of a badly executed project.

Chris Marshall, Salisbury