Ratton councillors Nick Ansell, David Small and Colin Belsey have helped secure an earlier installation date for the bus shelters outside Eastbourne DGH after months of pressing both Eastbourne Borough Council and East Sussex County Council. The new shelters on Kings Drive will give patients and visitors somewhere to sit and proper protection from the weather while they wait for buses this winter.
Eastbourne Borough Council removed shelters across the town under a plan to replace 164 units with more modern and accessible designs, funded through advertising and delivered under a long term concession. The result has been a slow and messy rollout, with permits delayed or refused and passengers left for months without seating or cover in both the recent extreme heat and now the wind and rain, for which the council has already had to apologise. The council now says the roll out will only be completed by March.
Following sustained pressure from the councillors, an expedited installation permit has now been issued, with the new shelters expected to be installed in October. This brings forward the replacement at a critical location and should mean bus users at the hospital have cover and seating in time for the worst of the winter weather.
Cllr David Small said “We have been appalled to see two of the town’s busiest stops outside the DGH left without any shelter for so long, despite its obvious importance for some of the most vulnerable people in Eastbourne. We have watched people leaving hospital on crutches or with limited mobility having to sit on pavements or stand in the open sun while they wait for a bus. I am relieved that these shelters are finally being brought forward so that patients and visitors will soon have somewhere to sit and proper protection while they wait.”
Cllr Colin Belsey said “This situation should never have arisen. Removing shelters before the permissions and timetable were in place has been sheer incompetence and it has made many bus journeys across Eastbourne miserable. We will keep pushing both councils until every shelter is back in place, the roll out is completed and lessons are learned so that residents are never treated like this again.”