Leighton-Linslade residents left in wet and cold due to ‘appalling’ bus shelter mix-up

Leighton-Linslade and Central Bedfordshire Independent councillor Victoria Harvey has been left frustrated by what she claims is a lack of communication between the town council and Central Bedfordshire Council.

Despite several actions taken during the summer - including the town clerk enquiring about the cost of shelters to see if LLTC could pay, and Cllr Harvey meeting CBC officers in West Street under the belief that CBC would pay - Cllr Harvey was shocked to discover that the issue had “still not been resolved” when she spoke to CBC about two weeks ago.

Cllr Harvey claimed: “I have had endless residents telling me how awful it is - how wet and cold it is and how terrible it is waiting around the shelters.

“Elderly people are going to be stuck out in the rain during a pandemic when there could have been better planning.

“It’s just awful that an issue as important as this can just slip through the net.”

Because of the pedestrianisation of the High Street, two new stops were created on West Street: one at the back of Waitrose and one outside Mary Bassett Lower School.

Benches were installed at the stops about one month ago, and Cllr Harvey told the LBO that she’d raised the issue throughout the summer about the need for shelters.

She said: “I walked about with two CBC officers for about an hour-and-a-half looking at the bus stops [in August] and I spoke about the need for shelters for the winter. I was assured that CBC were looking into shelters and more benches in the summer, and the benches were supplied, so I thought it was in hand. However, when the Lib Dems brought their motion asking if the town council could fund the shelters I supported it, as sometimes there can be real delays in CBC. But Conservative town councillors who are also CBC councillors stated that CBC were dealing with it and voted against the motion.”

Cllr Harvey told the LBO that she was then frustrated to learn that the town clerk had emailed CBC in July to enquire about the cost of shelters, and that had she known, she would have pushed for LLTC to fund them.

She was then even more exasperated when she spoke to CBC about two weeks ago, claiming she was told that there had been no resolution as to who was paying for the shelters and that CBC “didn’t know what was happening.”

She added: “Luckily Cllr Jones, the leader of the town council, has stepped in and there is a motion on this at the Planning and Transport committee this Wednesday evening.”

Commenting on why the Lib Dems’ motion was voted down, Leighton-Linslade Town councillor and leader of the Conservative Party Cllr Steve Jones told the LBO: “Yes, there was a mix-up as to who was paying for it. The reason we said that was quite simple; it was unclear what we were voting for. We thought CBC had the funds and the initiative to do it.

“We believed that it was within CBC’s budgets and that they were dealing with it. Now that we know that there is a problem which could produce further delay [if left to CBC to install] we can do something about it.”

Cllr Jones told the LBO that CBC provided LLTC with full costing for the shelters - £11,000 - about three weeks ago. The funds will come from LLTC’s Planning and Transport committee’s pot of money and the purchase of the two bus shelters will first have to be approved at the Planning and Transport committee on October 21.

The amount will then have to be approved by the Policy and Finance committee. “This will release the funds which can be paid to the contractor (usually on completion),” said Cllr Jones. “The approximate lead-in time is four weeks from the order being placed, and erection will depend upon Highways telling them where to put them and arranging a date. We received the quote on October 6, and are acting as quickly as possible.”

However, Cllr Harvey is disappointed that it has taken the two councils so long to resolve the matter and argues that residents have been left waiting in the rain for too long.

She also criticised the management of the CBC Highways department, claiming that its officers, although they work hard, are “overstretched” and “not properly organised”.

A Central Bedfordshire Council spokesman told the LBO: “We are currently discussing with the town council which budget is the most appropriate to fund these works.”