‘Disgusting’ and ‘shoddy’ bus stops in Glamorgan in dire need of repair say residents

VALE of Glamorgan Council will look to upgrade one of a number of shoddy bus stops in the county which residents feel are in dire need of repair.

Rhoose residents took to social media recently to complain about the state of a number of bus stops in their area, one of which is strewn with rubbish and boarded up.

Vale of Glamorgan Council member for the area, Cllr Samantha Campbell, even suggested that she and the community get together to fix up some of the bus shelters themselves.

However, the council raised concerns about this.

One resident called the bus stop, located near the junction of Port Road and Fonmon Road, “disgusting” on Facebook post which raised the issue.

It is this bus stop that the council will look to sort out.

Cllr Campbell said: “The bus shelters on Fonmon Road are in such a sorry state.

“A comment that comes up regularly from residents in this area is that they are the forgotten end of the village, and when you look at examples like these bus stops, you can see why.”

Vale Council said the Fonmon Cross bus stop, which is part of the route operated by Adventure Travel’s 304 service, could be upgraded this financial year with Welsh Government Local Transport Fund grant money.

Cllr Campbell said one of the bus shelters at the bottom of Adenfield Way will have a new unit shortly, but added that no funding has been provided to upgrade the rest which people have raised concerns about.

She added: “This is obviously extremely disappointing and I share residents’ frustrations with this decision.

“I did float the idea, on a recent Facebook post, about getting a group of local residents together and doing up the remaining bus shelters ourselves.
“A lick of paint and new panes, although not a brand-new shelter, would make the world of difference, especially when I’ve seen how positive these projects have been received in places like Penarth.”
When questioned about Cllr Campbell’s suggestion, Vale of Glamorgan Council said it would have safety concerns in relation to the public working on the shelters which are very close to the carriageway along Fonmon Road.
Cllr Campbell said: “We’ve seen all over the Vale about bus shelters being vandalised; the new bus shelters we installed in Rhoose last year have been vandalised already. Would this have happened if the local community had been involved in the project?

“As the council have stated, the highways maintenance team have a small budget for improvements to current bus shelters and I will be pushing them for the remaining bus shelters on Fonmon Road to be top of that list.”
Vale of Glamorgan Council said it received several complaints about bus users, particularly parents with children, not having enough room to stand and spilling out ono the road in relation to the Fonmon Cross bus stop.

A council spokesperson said: “We do not have a funding pot to upgrade bus shelters across the Vale – this [is] done via grant application to Welsh Government and using Section 106 monies.

“Our highways maintenance team have a very small budget of around £25,000 to cleanse and maintain shelters (replace broken panes, etc..) but this does not stretch too far and cannot be used to upgrade shelters.

“The other shelters will have to remain in situ until the grant money become available as we do not have the funding to replace them.

“This is the same across the Vale and other areas of Wales.”

Commenting on Cllr Campbell’s suggestion for the community to fix up some of the bus shelters, the spokesperson added: “We will arrange for an inspection of these shelters to determine any safety works that may be required.”