£50,000 cost of temporary Royal Parade bus shelters revealed

Plymouth residents are facing a "whopping" £50,000 bill for three converted shipping containers to provide stop-gap protection for bus passengers on Royal Parade, following delays in replacing previous bus shelters that were removed in January, figures released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal.

The shipping containers have been bought by the council outright at a cost of £46,802, the official figures confirm -- or £15,600.67 each. This includes the cost of seating, bird spikes, signage, anti-climb rollers as well as the cost of delivery and installation.

On top of that, local residents face an additional £3,267.20 bill for eight weeks of cleaning and maintenance. This includes a weekly power wash, shelter clean and maintenance check. A further £1,100 has been set aside for any additional cleaning that may be needed.

Two of the shipping containers were installed on 5 March, with the final shelter to be in place by 19 March.

The council confirmed that the cost of removing the shipping containers once the new permanent shelters arrive is currently unknown, and will be included in the construction contract for the Royal Parade Bus Improvement project.

Commenting, the Chair of Plymouth Liberal Democrats, Stuart Bonar, who obtained the figures from the council, said:

"Local people deserve a proper explanation over this utter shambles. First, during January, passengers saw 12 bus shelters along the north side of Royal Parade removed, leaving them to face the winter rain without protection.

 "Now, we discover that city residents are on the hook for a whopping £50,000 for these three metal boxes, which are only going to be used for a few weeks. And they don't even know how much more local taxpayers will have to pay to have them removed!

 "Our city's leadership is letting us down. Plymouth needs new faces and fresh ideas in the council chamber. Too many councillors have just been around for far too long.”