Councillor slams £11,000 bus stop which won’t be used

A cash-strapped council was slammed today for spending £11,000 on a bus stop which will NEVER be used.

Officials at Devon County Council spent the money to install an access ramp at the bus stop in Exeter, Devon.

But the authority had failed to inform the bus company of the plans – who just weeks later announced it had re-routed its services.

The bus stop and new ramp will now never be used – which councillors have branded a ”total waste of money”.

Cllr Percy Prowse said: ”This is a colossal, staggering, unjustified waste of money. Did they not speak to the bus company before going ahead with this?

”This £11,000 could easily have been spent on something that was a bit more advantageous to residents.

”It’s a super ramp, but there was a hand-rail there anyway which had been organised by one of the residents using the stop.”

A spokesman for Age Concern said: ”They have done a very good job on putting in the ramp and we welcome that. But now the routes are changing. It seems absurd. ”

A spokeswoman for the county council apologised for the error but said it had no way of knowing which routes would change.

She said: ”We have had a programme of raising kerbs at bus stops across Exeter to give a more level entry to buses.

”Almost all of the buses have low floors to make them more accessible to people with disabilities, wheelchair users and people with pushchairs.

”The services are almost all commercial in Exeter and so we cannot foresee or control which routes they will serve. However the vast majority of these bus routes are still operating.”