MOMENTUM was building this week with a campaign to provide a shelter and seat at a Minehead bus stop.

Public transport campaigner Linda Sparks, who lives in Williton and works in Minehead, called earlier this year for improvements to the bus stop outside the West Somerset Railway Station.

Ms Sparks said passengers were exposed to the rain and wind while waiting for a bus, and elderly people in particular found it difficult to stand for long as they queued.

Former Minehead town councillors John Malin and Terry Walker were both supportive of the initiative, and now ex-mayor Tony Berry has thrown his weight behind the issue.

Mr Berry told the Free Press he would personally pay for a seat to be fitted at the bus stop by the railway station and also for one in Bancks Street in the town centre.

He said: “I had five seats put in when I was mayor and they have been there for six years or so now but the council have not kept up with the maintenance of them and they are starting to rot now.

“I would be prepared to finance seats at the bus stops at the station and Bancks Street out of my own pocket.

“Linda is quite right to highlight how the elderly struggle with the weather and having to stand up while waiting.”

Mr Berry is also liaising with town Cllr Ben Jewell, who will raise the issue at a council meeting to give councillors an opportunity to either press Somerset Council to install a shelter and seat at the station or to decide to commission the work themselves.

Councillors would be able to use Community Infrastructure Levy funding to pay for the project, money which is paid by housing developers for building outside the town development boundary, which would avoid impacting on council tax bills.

Cllr Jewell said: “Ultimately, we need to do the best we can for Minehead.”

Ms Sparks said of Mr Berry’s offer: “He is a good person who has his heart where many others do not seem to have it.

“This is needed not just for the elderly but for everybody who needs to use the buses.”