The rather awkwardly located Edgware bus station could move to a much more convenient location if plans for a large property development in the town centre go ahead.
The development in question is the town centre shopping centre, the Broadwalk, which was bought by the property developer, Ballymore in July 2020, and they have plans to rebuild it with a lot of housing above.
The shopping centre is next to Edgware tube station, but sitting between them is the bus station, which is down a side road and just behind the tube station. Apart from its location being hidden away behind the tube station, with just one access linking the bus station to the main road, there can easily be buses every 30 seconds going in and out of the station, not just causing problems for road traffic at the junction, it’s a big problem for pedestrians trying to cross the road between the tube station and the shopping centre.
Side road between tube station and shops leading to bus station
How most pedestrians cross the access road
Last year, Transport for London (TfL) and Ballymore signed a joint venture to merge their two sites so that the property development could be expanded by including the bus station and the bus garage behind into the overall plan.
The joint venture has now shown off its initial plans, and the transport change is radical.
The bus garage at the back of the site will move to a new location, in a basement underneath the houses, while the bus station will move to sit next to the main road in front of the tube station instead of behind it.
Current layout – source consultation video
Proposed layout – source consultation video
The development site is on a slope that drops by a few metres towards the back of the site, so digging out the basement for the bus garage will be a lot easier as much of the site just needs levelling out. The replacement bus garage will sit roughly where Sainsbury’s car park is today.
Another advantage of the changed location is that at the moment both the bus garage and the public bus station use the same narrow entrance, which adds to the road congestion problem. The new bus garage will have a separate entrance on a new side road, so the problem will be solved.
As the new bus garage will be underground, one of the other changes that will come into effect when it opens is that all buses served by the garage will be electric only. The garage is not being designed to cope with diesel fumes, other than for occasional maintenance vehicles. That requirement will see the buses in the area that aren’t already electric by then also be replaced with new buses.
Normally, upgrading or building a new bus garage for electric buses requires a large power supply to be installed, however, as the garage is being built as part of the housing development, it’s able to share the same power upgrade.
The buses will generally recharge overnight when the homes are using less electricity anyway, although there will be a number of fast chargers in the garage for top-ups during the day. At the public consultation, a representative said that the additional power for the daytime top-ups was a minimal factor in the power demands for the whole site.
As the bus garage will be built towards the rear of the site where the ground is lower, that means the podium built above for the shops and housing will be at the same level as the main high street.
Away from the bus garage, there’s the new bus station for passengers.
Early concept image showing location of new bus station next to tube station entrance – source consultation documents
The new bus station will sit next to the main road beside the tube station in the form of a large turnaround layby set back from the road. That should mean that buses will no longer turn down the narrow side road and return, but will pull into the new bus station in the same direction as travel and then pull out again. That could also reduce the overall journey time per route as well, if only by a minute or two, but over a whole day that can add up to a decent saving.
Not all of the displaced bus stops from the existing bus station will use the new location though, with some more bus stops on the main road, particularly the west-to-east route stops on the opposite side of the road from the tube station.
Overall though, moving the bus station from behind the tube station onto the main road should save passengers walking time and reduce road congestion by getting rid of the road junction.
Early concept image showing location of new bus station next to tube station entrance – source consultation documents
Once the replacement facilities are ready, the existing bus station and garage will be demolished, and become part of the larger property development, with blocks of flats built on the site. In total homes for around 7,000 people are being planned for the site – made up of 3,365 homes and 463 student units. The development also sees the shopping centre rebuilt along with the new housing, along with space reserved for a health centre and library.
Peter Elliott, Head of Property Development at TfL’s property arm, TTLP, said: “We are excited to be sharing these updated plans with the local community and stakeholders, which look to revitalise Edgware and support the local economy. Working together with Ballymore, we are looking to deliver high-quality new homes and improved retail space as part of a reinvigorated town centre, alongside other benefits for the local community.
“Sustainability has been considered a key part of the designs. From a new electrified bus garage to cycling and walking improvements, these designs will help to encourage sustainable travel and make Edgware and London an even more fantastic place for people to live, work and travel in.”
Scale model of the development with new bus station highlighted
The final masterplan will go to Barnet Council for approval, and if granted, then there’s a secondary application with the finer details to be approved.
The development will be delivered in phases, with the first phase, over five years, prioritising the delivery of the new bus station, retail and the first 1,000 homes. The remainder would be built over the following five years.
The plans are on display in the Broadwalk shopping centre on:
- Wednesday 12th July from 10am to 2pm
- Saturday 15th July from 10am to 2pm
- Monday 17th July from 3pm to 7pm
They will also be holding a series of public exhibitions in community locations on the below dates:
- Monday 10th July, 3pm – 7pm – The Larches, 1 Rectory Lane
- Thursday 13th July, 3pm – 4:30pm – Edgware Primary School Summer Fair
- Wednesday 19th July, 4pm – 7pm – St Margaret’s Church, 1 Station Road
- Thursday 20th July, 6pm – 8pm – Edgware Library, Hale Lane
Note, that the tube station is not included in the development, and will remain in place.
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Updated 10th July – Corrected details of the number of flats being built.
Why is the new bus station so much smaller than the old bus station?
Explained in the article – not all the buses will stop there, but will use stops on the main road.
I was wondering that. 7,000 to 10,000 new residents, reduced parking and a smaller bus station.
Also there is a drop off zone for just 5 cars, without any rotation. Imagine the chaos when there it’s a pouring rush hour evening.
An insignificant correction: It is the Broadwalk Shopping Centre’s car park, not Sainsbury’s.
A rather more signifiant one: ‘only’ 3,365 new homes (read: flats) plus 463 student living units will be built, allowing for 7,000 PEOPLE; not, thank god, 7,000 actual homes.
Edgware neither wants nor needs either number, however, whilst Ballymore’s blurb is a mix of the insulting (“Opportunity to breathe new life into the declining town centre”) and the confusing (new buildings will ‘reflect the 1930s architecture’, of which there is almost none in Edgware). There is zero mention of how high the towers of flats will be (up to 28 storeys I gather).
The post says 7,000 HOMES, not people.
The blogpost goes on to say that the first 1,000 homes will be built in the first 5 years (Phase 1?), and the remaining 6,000 homes in the second 5 years (Phase 2?).
These proposals are part of a much bigger proposal for Edgware. I have lived in Edgware most of my life and I have never known such fear and anger about anything else.
I urge anyone reading this who is similarly concerned about Ballymore’s proposals for Edgware, to join the Save Our Edgware Facebook group.
As regards the bus station, fewer busses stopping there, with other routes stopping on Station Road will make it more difficult for disabled people changing from the tube or other busses.
Drop off facilities for just 5 cars without rotation will cause chaos.
I don’t see this as being about improvement, more about packing in as many people as possible into ultra high density housing, in a suburban area.
Shame that the if the development is shite.
Maybe you should be talking about the gross overdevelopment planned turning this small site, in a suburban town, into one (if not the ) most densely packed area in the UK and well up with the most densely packed areas anywhere in the World.
Maybe discuss the vast reduction in commuter parking at what is a train terminus and the vastly reduced parking for shoppers at a development that is meant to rejuvenate the shopping area!!
Maybe also mention that about 95% of the tons residents oppose the development in its current form.
They see a bus station, last tube station on northern line and some free space in the broadwalk and they decide it will be great place for 7000 new homes. Traffic as it is now is bad on the high street. Essential services like GP, schools are not remotely good enough for the area. TFL only cares about money. People are opposing this but like the ULEZ consultation they do another sham where people oppose but they would do what build houses anyhow.
Details of people’s transfer from tube terminus to buses out in the main road, please. Distance, signage, complications?
I drrove through Colindale and yet more blocks of flats built.
These developments are solely about profit for the developper. They get their land, sold on the cheap, and build high and dense. The cheap build and high prices = huge profit.
The roads in Colindale are too small and crumbling, due to the years of development work and huge lorries.
Developpers do NOTHING for the infrastructure.
It’s not regeneration it is destruction. The buildings are not in keeping with the surrounding, and are like a horror movie. Ugly, unsafe buildings.
The demographic changes too, you only see young people from overseas, buying to launder their money. Is that healthy or fair to old, disabled or even those with families.
The pavements around Colindale station haven’t been improved, widened or anything. Pedestrians walk besides the huge vans, trucks, lorries that blight our lives. Which work for these obscene developments.
I wish all developpers would be gathered and imprisoned in their ”redevelopments” and see how they like it then.
The blogpost goes on to say that the first 1,000 homes will be built in the first 5 years (Phase 1?), and the remaining 6,000 homes in the second 5 years (Phase 2?).
Why does this article repeatedly say 7,000 new homes, when it’s under 4,000 homes? Why hasn’t it been corrected yet? This is very counterproductive. If people get it into their minds that it really is 7,000, it gives the developers licence to say “we listened to you and have reduced it to under 4,000.”
Please correct it.
In simple terms, most residents in Edgware do NOT want the carefully planned congestion and deeply unbearable inconvenience being imported into this small area.
Imagine 28 stories of small flats. Is this acceptable? Where are the supporting facilities? Is there going to be a playground for children? Are we not courting gross unsocial behaviour a few years down the line?
Even a 1000 homes are too much.
Hideous vandalism inflicted on a residential area in the name of developer profits
So the covered bus station will be replaced by bus stops dotted around. Think about the passengers waiting with limited seating and no shelter from cold or rain. Surely it is safer at night to be in a station with other people ?
As the design of the news shelters hasn’t been decided on, I am baffled as to how you came to that conclusion.
Peter Elliott, Head of Property Development at TFL said ‘Working together with Ballymore, we are looking to deliver high-quality new homes and improved retail space as part of a reinvigorated town centre, alongside other benefits for the local community.
“Sustainability has been considered a key part of the designs. From a new electrified bus garage to cycling and walking improvements, these designs will help to encourage sustainable travel and make Edgware and London an even more fantastic place for people to live, work and travel in.”
Also there are NO car parking spaces for commuters, who will have to find somewhere else to park. One would have thought that at the end of a major tube line people would be encouraged to park their cars rather than be forced to drive into London. So no sustainable travel there. What’s the improvement in retail space? How many more shops will be provided? Which retailers will be moving in?
There will be the same amount of parking for non-residents as there is today, and residents will get some parking as well — as for which retailers are signing leases to rent shops, at least 5 years too early to even start to think about an answer to that question.
Within the article it shows the potential sub terraranan bus depot being 100% Electric. Are you aware of what potential provisions are in place in the event of thermal run away and the potential for a battery fire that may take a prolonged period of time to extinguish?
Personally, no, because I am not a writer about fire safety systems — but the people involved in the project will include such experts, as they always have to, and if you actually want to know as opposed to putting forward strawman arguments, I am sure you can ask them.
I want to know how many bedrooms this new project will generate. This is a more realistic way to calculate the new population.
Also the high rise currently being developed near the tube station – although not TFL and Barrimore…how many new bedrooms will that generate (as yet not completed but will impact on the population density in Edgware).
And what about Forumside. What development will be allowed by Barnet? is it likely to increase the population density?
You can get all those answers by reading the consultation documents – that’s why the consultation exists, to answer your questions.
One lithium fire on a bus in the garage and the whole development could literally go up in smoke!
You could say the same about car parks built under blocks of flats – and petrol/desiel vehicles catch fire more often than electric vehicles.
It’s actually insane how much NIMBYism is prevalent even on this site, which i expected would have an more urbanist audience. So many people parroting on NIMBY talking points about too much density, too tall, not fitting the surrounding area etc, and how housing is necessary in a housing crisis, but not in this area because it’s special