THE poor state of bus shelters in Weymouth and Portland came in for a pounding after a blistering attack by transport campaigner David Redgewell.

But he was told that only £3,000 per year was available in borough council coffers to maintain shelters.

Mr Redgewell, regional officer for pressure group Transport 2000, told Weymouth and Portland's Public Transport Forum yesterday that he was still waiting for work to be carried out on damaged and leaking shelters across the borough.

He warned that money spent on transport improvements would be closely monitored by the Govern-ment but engineering chief Martyn Gallivan said a small amount of cash in the maintenance budget prevented the council from repairing all the shelters.

Mr Gallivan warned that this budget could be cut even further in light of the council's cash crisis.

He added that money had been spent recently on raising kerbs at bus stops, a move welcomed by First Group.

Mr Redgewell said although he accepted there were limited funds available he would be asking South Dorset MP Jim Knight to look into the matter and he would be surveying all the bus shelters in the area. He added: "It's about delivering quality bus partnerships and that is not what we are seeing in this can't-do culture.

"First Group has spend £9.5 million on new buses but that is not being matched with quality waiting areas."

Members agreed to write to the borough's management committee expressing concern about the state of the bus shelters.

The forum was later presented with a report by Dorset County Council officers Rod Turner and Steve Williams which rejected claims which Mr Redgewell made at an earlier meeting when he suggested the authority had failed to spend money allocated through the Local Transport Plan and was in danger of being forced to hand back the cash to the Government.

The report said: "The county council consistently spends more on its overall Local Transport Plan capital programme than it receives in Government support and we are on course for doing so again in the current financial year.

"There has never been any likelihood that the Government would claw any money back from the county council in respect of transport expenditure."

The report listed a number of successful projects funded through the Local Transport Plan.

Taxi drivers' representative John Brooks called on the forum to make a passenger waiting area for taxis on the Esplanade a priority in the Local Transport Forum.