LYME'S only bus shelter at Cobb Gate was in a terrible state, complained Coun Barbara Austin at a meeting of the recreations committee on Wednesday.

"It needs regular cleaning, and I don't think it has had a coat of paint since it has been there," she said. Coun Owen Lovell said he, too, had had received complaints about the shelter which sometime smelled of urine and had to be disinfected.

Works supervisor Colin Smith said the shelter was regularly cleaned, but Coun Austin insisted there had been occasions when a nearby trader had taken a bucket of water to it.

Coun Lorna Jenkin suggested that instructions should be given to ensure that the shelter had a monthly spring clean to augment the present arrangements.

Mayor Ken Dibben said he was sure that council officials had "got the message".