Vandals targeting bus shelters

Vandals targeting Oswestry’s bus shelters are causing thousands of pounds of damage - and their actions could see some of the shelters being removed.

Oswestry Town Council agreed to pay for the routine maintenance of bus shelters when they were installed by the county council last year.

But shelters in the town centre and residential areas, have been subjected to vandalism and are used constantly for fly-posting. Now the town council wants the county to inspect the shelters and review their future.

Council clerk David Preston said at a meeting last night that when the town council adopted the shelters one of the conditions was that, if they required excessive maintenance the town council reserved the right to no longer maintain them.

Councillor Gareth Jones said the vandalism was causing extraordinary damage.

“Every time we have to replace one of the panels it costs us hundreds of pounds,” he said.

Councillor Martin Bennett said the council should not give in to the vandals.

“I am afraid that once again the vast majority will suffer because of the actions of a few,” he said “But we should look at either re-siting the shelters or finding other materials to build them in. We were concerned abo ut some of the sites for the shelters when they went up.”

The council will discuss the shelters with county officials.