HUNDREDS of pounds have been spent maintaining an unused bus shelter in one Hereford street. 

The cost of maintenance was revealed by a freedom of information request submitted to Herefordshire Council in February. 

New bus shelters

Herefordshire Council has recently come under fire from some locals after it was announced that it would be spending £230,500 on “green” bus shelters at its largest bus station.

The 12 existing shelters at Hereford Country Bus Station need replacing “due to disrepair and poor condition”, Herefordshire Council said, with their planned replacements to have roofs planted with carbon-dioxide absorbing sedums.

There is also to be a standalone shelter for the city’s free Zipper electric bus service.

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The spending is part of the ongoing £6-million Hereford City Centre Improvement (HCCI) package, largely funded through the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership. The HCCI money will cover £198,000 of the new bus station shelters, the rest coming from council reserves. 

The cost of these new shelters was questioned by Hereford Times reader Garry Cullen, who asked "what green planet are these councillors from?".

"Apparently no one in Herefordshire knows how to build a bus shelter so they engage a company from a Berkshire to supply them for just over £19,166 each," Mr Cullen said.

"At a cost of approximately £666 per square foot it would be cheaper to construct new shelters on site and include a botanical garden with deck chairs on the roof.

"I would have expected the Conservatives to roll back on these ridiculous green policies and spend our taxes on more pressing issues within our city."

Maintenance cost

But, the freedom of information request has revealed, it is not just new and in-use bus shelters that are costing money, with hundreds spent on maintaining one shelter that has been out of use for six years.

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The shelter, in Hereford's Barrs Court Road, is one of three shelters that are not in use, according to Herefordshire Council.

The council confirmed that a total of £384.61 has been spent maintaining the shelter in the last five years, and further confirmed that the shelter has been out of use for six years.

"The shelter has been maintained in readiness for being transferred to another location within Hereford," a Herefordshire Council spokesperson said.

"This is scheduled to happen within the next four months subject to National Highways approval of the new location".