A DISUSED bus shelter has become an eyesore and magnet for anti-social behaviour.
But members of Middleton-in-Teesdale and Newbiggin Parish Council were told it would cost too much to tear the Town Head shelter down – and there would be no money for rebuild the structure should buses ever run along the route in the future.
Parish councillors were told buses hadn’t used the route for some time.
Clerk Judith Mashiter told members at their October meeting that Durham County Council had informed her the shelter had last been inspected in 2022 and was found to be safe.
She added county officials had said if the shelter was removed and a bus service resumed in the future it would require a public consultation to reinstate it.
Ms Mashiter said: “Last week when I was travelling down past it there was a fire in the shelter.
“A group of three youths were in there.
“The garden seat had been moved up into the shelter and the stone wall adjacent demolished with the stone put in the shelter.”
The incident was reported to the police, who responded that the youths “maybe getting rid of rubbish” .
Ms Mashiter added: “The kids were still there when I came home two hours later.”
Cllr Adrian Carroll said: “Has anyone told Raby Estates that they have had their wall demolished? They seem to have a lot of sway with the police.”
Chairman Cllr Kevin Tallentire said: “In regards to the shelter, it is attracting anti-social behaviour now.”
Cllr Sue Bainbridge pointed out the structure was constructed by locals not as a bus shelter, but as somewhere to meet up and chat.
She added: “It was built for older men to sit in and chat not as a bus shelter. There is a plaque that mentions who built it.”
Ms Mashiter said: “And now the younger ones want to sit in there and chat.”
Cllr Bainbridge added: “I don’t think we should take it down. Maybe move the bench further up to the lay by. They are not likely to carry it back down.”
Members agreed to look at fixing the bench in concrete where it was originally positioned, away from the bus shelter.
