A TIMETABLE outlining how work will progress on Stanley's £3m bus station has been published.

Work is expected to start in January on the bus station in Mary Street, and planners hope the finished product will be open by October.

Derwentside District Council has put up poster boards in the bus station and outside the Louisa Centre, in Front Street, detailing when each stage of the plan will be completed.

Peter Reynolds, the council's head of environmental services, said: "We have put the notice boards where people are most likely to see them.

"It shows that we haven't just been sat on our thumbs, there has been an awful lot of work going on behind the scenes to prepare this."

Three firms are believed to have put in tenders for the construction of the bus station, which will be the first in the region to be solar-powered.

The successful company will be announced in November - when funding for the project is expected to come through.

Several commercial properties are to be demolished as part of the scheme to create a gateway from the new bus station to Front Street, the town's main shopping area.

Businesses affected include Bennett's estate agents, William Hill's bookmakers, and Rob Craig's Tattoo Parlour.

Although no deal has yet been agreed over the sale of the buildings, the timetable states that the gateway project should be completed by December, 2005.

"The timetable shows the targets we have set out to achieve," said Mr Reynolds.

"If we don't achieve that time scale, for any reason, we will tell people why."

The project is being part-funded by the sale of the present bus station site, possibly for a major retail development.

The station will be built on the present Mary Street car park, with the loss of 54 spaces.