Residents are asking for two new bus shelters to be removed after they were vandalised four times in the eight weeks since they were installed.
The two shelters on opposite sides of Ovingdean Road, installed on 6 September, have so far had the windows smashed on three occasions and been graffitied once.
Ovingdean Residents Preservation Society (ORPS), says the shelters were “a box ticking exercise” and is calling for the under-used shelters to be removed or relocated to Falmer Road before they cost the council any more money to fix.
The bus shelters were installed following a planning agreement with Brookworth Homes, using money from the Skylarks development in Ovingdean.
Malcolm Spencer, chair of ORPS said: “No locals were ever consulted on the requirement.
“When we heard about the bus shelters, a group of residents and ORPS tried hard to get them stopped – or at the very least get the design changed to accommodate a ‘living roof’ but it was too much effort for the council or developer to change.
“We have very few call outs to the police for antisocial behaviour, but these bus shelters have been a magnet for vandalism, and provide no benefit to village residents.
“We now have two bus shelters that nobody in Ovingdean asked for, that we were forced to have installed despite a fierce campaign by residents against them, that are not used and that are vandalised.
“Today we learned they are too expensive to remove and to do so would be in breach of an agreement about infrastructure funding.
“We could have done so much more with the amount spent on these two bus shelters.”
Ovingdean Councillor Bridget Fishleigh said the shelters are not necessary because it is an under-used stop, and wastes electricity being kept lit all night.
Cllr Fishleigh said: “Falmer Road is busy all the time with passing traffic whereas Ovingdean Road is quiet so probably there would be less vandalism if the shelters were moved.
“I hope that the council’s transport team learn from this sorry waste of money situation and consult with residents and councillors when deciding what infrastructure is needed for a new development.”
The chair of the council’s Transport and Sustainability Committee, Councillor Trevor Muten said: “We’re obviously very disappointed that these bus shelters have been vandalised.
“We take a zero tolerance approach to vandalism. Those who carry out vandalism and prolific graffiti taggers ought to face the consequences of their actions.
“We will shortly launch a consultation on our Graffiti Tagging Reduction Strategy, which is our route to improving the situation across the city.
“The cost of repairs to these bus shelters will be met by Clear Channel, our bus shelter advertising concession holder, and we will work with them to ensure the repairs are carried out as soon as possible.
“Buses serve these bus stops from 6am up to midnight, providing a useful public transport link for Ovingdean residents to the city centre.”
Here’s a summary of this article: Elitist car owners who don’t use buses complain that infrastructure is put in place for bus users (at no cost to the tax payer). When this infrastructure is vandalised, the same people then blame the council, rather than the people who vandalised it, or the useless police, who make no effort to investigate vandalism.
These people are why Britain is in the state it’s in!
Chip on shoulder alert!
Agreed, what a Karen. Maybe her residense association should make more of an effort to catch the bus and stop burning oil to do the shopping instead of moaning about 1 20w light bulb in a bus stop…
It’s a group of 8
11 to 15 years old from around saltdean! They were trying to smash the shelter at Longridge avenue as I got off the bus and then tried intimidating me
This does not go far enough. All the bus shelters in the city should be mechanically crushed immediately.
A lot of bus stops in Brighton and Hove have been smashed. Portslade to Shoreham, have punch holes in most stops.
This is because families are struggling in not enough benefits and affordable housing they get angry and smash stuff this is Boris Johnson and tories fault. Need Labour
We have a labour council who deal with housing requirements.
Also low income families have also received an extra £900 this year.
So what’s your relevance to a bus shelter?
Hmm, bus shelters have been vandalised forever no matter what party have been in charge at no:10
Many people come from poor backgrounds, yet do not go round smashing things,
Perhaps instead of removing the bus shelters, remove the hands of the vandals…
having the windows made of glass encourages them to be broken because they like to see them shatter they should be replaced with plastic windows
Why not just use plastic instead of glass. Or maybe the odd police patrol
The only reason they were installed was for the advertising revenue
Ovingdean Residents Preservation Society (ORPS), says the shelters were “a box ticking exercise” and is calling for the under-used shelters to be removed or relocated to Falmer Road before they cost the council any more money to fix.
Hmm, so they wouldn’t be smashed up in Falmer road then. Sadly all round the city shelters are smashed up, are we going to insist that they are all removed?
The bus shelters were installed following a planning agreement with Brookworth Homes, using money from the Skylarks development in Ovingdean. Great that it was paid for by a contractor.
Malcolm Spencer, chair of ORPS said: “No locals were ever consulted on the requirement.
Hmm, So the chair of ORPS expects to be consulted on a subject that is a government requirement to improve bus infrastructure?
“When we heard about the bus shelters, a group of residents and ORPS tried hard to get them stopped – or at the very least get the design changed to accommodate a ‘living roof’ but it was too much effort for the council or developer to change.
We are trying to get people to leave their cars at home and make use of Bus service’s. Isn’t there a new estate being built there?
Could it be sabotage by some members of ORPS as their way of getting them removed…..just saying 🤔 😉
Sadly Steve, these residents are moaning about about something that doesn’t directly effect them. They do not own the road or the public area. The council do not need their permission to install Bus Shelters. Under Transport acts, agreements and other transport schemes councils are obliged to make improvements to infrastructure, this includes raised and dropped curbs at bus stops, shelters and electronic information boards. Bus shelters are not owned by bus companies or councils but by a private company who are footing the bill.
These are sort of residents who will moan when they get soaked because there’s no shelter when they have to use the bus.
Like the woman a few years ago who moved into a narrow street and complained and moaned about residents parking on the verges, something that was allowed for decades and there had been no problems. She said it was dangerous and the council removed the signs and put in posts to stop vehicles using the verge. She then complained about yellow lines being put outside her house and she couldn’t park.
If it is raining then I’m Sure some folks would appreciate a bus shelter.
Owning a car isn’t elitist.
Perhaps the residents and resident association might want to get involved and advise parents to teach their kids not to smash up property that isn’t theirs. Seriously parents need to take responsibility for their kids actions and step up and take action.
Sitting around , waiting and blaming the government because your kids aren’t respectful is not the answer . My kids know there would be consequences if they ever thought about such vandalism.
I live nearby and what’s strange is the bus shelter on the opposite side of the road hasn’t been touched as far as I can see. It’s the stop directly adjacent to the (very expensive) newly built houses…….a case for miss Marple!!!!
What can you expect when in this modern age , when almost everything that is designed and built is not meant to last !
Perhaps the old bus shelters, prevalent in B&H in the 70s would be more resilient. They were made of cast concrete.
But really, plod should be doing their job, nicking these little toerags and locking them up in Borstal.