RIVERLIGHTS SCHEME PLAN

The Bus and Coach Station:
The airport-style, 29-bay bus and coach station will have automatic doors at each departure gate, a seated area, which is heated and provides a waiting area for passengers, as well as electronic signage and convenience shops.

The Riverlights Building:
There will be restaurants, a cafe, bars, a health and fitness suite, a casino, a comedy club, chemists, newsagents and a bakers or confectioners in this building.

The Waterfront Building and the Whitewater Building:
These buildings will offer a total of 150 mainly two-bedroom apartments with a few larger penthouse properties. There will also be secure parking for residents.

The Headquarters Building:
This will be a 150,000 sq ft city centre landmark building and is designed to attract major companies. The offices will be air-conditioned and will be large enough to employ around 1,000 people. The building is designed so that it can be let out to individual tenants or one company.

The Riverlights project has been dogged by controversy ever since its was conceived. In 1996, Derby City Council signed an exclusive deal with Nottingham- based developer MetroHolst. In October, 1997, the council granted outline planning permission for the plans. Widespread protests against the scheme led to the collection of a 15,000-name petition calling for the bus station to be saved and the formation of the Bus Station Action Group. The plans were revised several times and, in October, 2000, MetroHolst had to seek an extension to its three-year deadline for submitting the plans.

In November, 2000, MetroHolst submitted outline proposals and an artist's impression of the site. The plans included the demolition of the existing 1930s bus station and the building of a new, 29-bay bus station. Also planned was a 10-screen cinema, hotel, nightclub, health and fitness centre and an array of restaurants, cafes, bars and outdoor riverside piazzas. A year later, when MetroHolst submitted detailed plans to the council, Bus Station Action Group chairman Ann Crosby called the proposals monstrous. Members also criticised MetroHolst's choice of materials, design and colour.

That same year, Conservative Philip Hickson, now deputy council leader but then in opposition, claimed the future of the bus station had "degenerated into shambles". In 2002, the council set up a cross-party working group to negotiate with the developer.

In July 2002 Liberal Democrat Ann Crosby, claimed she was gagged by the Government code of conduct, which requires that councillors withdraw from discussions where their personal interest could be regarded as significant enough to prejudice "the member's judgement of the public interest". Since then she resigned from her post of chairman of the Bus Station Action Group, which was founded in 1999 to save the bus station in The Morledge, believing that this would allow her to continue expressing her opinions in the council chamber. But she is being barred from a planning control meeting, at which councillors plan to give the go-ahead for the Riverlights scheme. Ms Crosby has claimed the exclusion is unjust, as other councillors in favour of the project will be able to freely speak at the meeting.

Michael Foote, director of council corporate services, said, "As Councillor Crosby is a member of the planning committee she has to make sure that she doesn't bring into that meeting any undue bias. Because of the way in which she has been speaking out constantly against the development over a long period of time, she agrees that she's biased and therefore she should not take part in the discussion." Maurice Burgess, leader of Derby City Council, said, "This rule is something that is imposed by central Government but I think that elected representatives should be able to speak their mind and express their judgements."