A REVIEW into the bus stops and shelters in Bordon and Whitehill is to be launched. Whitehill town councillors have fought for the review, following changes to local bus routes and poor maintenance of the shelters. County councillor Adam Carew said: "This is something the town council and I pressed for last year but it seemed to fall on deaf ears – so we have tried again. "Our town has the worst accessibility issues in Hampshire and this has been made worse by cuts to our buses at county level. As a result some bus stops and at least one shelter have become totally redundant. "To make matters worse , a number of non-town council shelters are in a state of disrepair and no- one at district or county level seems to want to take responsibility for them. So we are calling again for a review to get the situation tidied up." The town council owns four shelters in the town, while the rest belong to EHDC or HCC. It is said that some of the bus stops in the town are in a state of ill repair, and the EHDC bus shelter opposite Corals is dilapidated to the point that the tiles look unsteady. Mr Carew said: "This brick shelter is no longer on a major bus route and with the traffic lights its quite impossible for a bus to stop here anyway. The shelter is in an appalling state of repair – it's a safety hazard and should be demolished as a matter of urgency. "The concrete prefab bus stop by the Chalet Hill filter lane is also an eyesore and should be replaced." Following a property services review at EHDC in 2006, the district council said it would no longer own or maintain bus shelters on highway land. Mr Carew said: "This controversial political decision may have saved money at EHDC but it means that the responsibility will now fall on the parishes. "There is no harm in devolving things to local control if parishes are able to adopt them, but many are not in a position to do this. Bus shelters cost money to insure, clean and repair. "If the shelters can be modernised and a sum provided towards their upkeep larger towns such as Whitehill-Bordon may be better placed to take them on, but obviously any plans to do this would be up to elected councillors to decide".
