The Isle of Wight Council has denied preventing The Bus Shelter from re-opening, despite the charity’s claims.
In a statement issued via the Bus Shelter IOW Facebook page on Friday, those behind the homeless shelter project stated that the Isle of Wight Council has ‘not allowed’ the shelter to open again.
The Bus Shelter – a double-decker bus accommodating over 20 people – was established back in 2016 by Kev Newton. It moved from Northwood to Seaclose Park but eventually closed.
The team behind the project changed recently but the bus has failed to re-open, despite undergoing an extensive refurbishment.
An Isle of Wight Council spokesperson has said:
“We strongly refute any suggestion the Isle of Wight Council has prevented The Bus Shelter from re-opening. On the contrary, the council was willing to continue to support them in their efforts to find a new, suitable location for the shelter.
“We did meet with the charity to discuss locations, however, they then told us they had found a new site and no longer needed council assistance. They have not approached us since.
“We would have considered using the service once it reopened had we had sufficient assurance that it met appropriate standards of health and safety.
Article continues below this advertisement “In the meantime, we have been able to secure an appropriate quality of service from alternative providers with whom we can continue to work with in the future
“We are disappointed the service is going but, to reiterate, the charity has not made any approaches to the council before coming to this conclusion.
“Any decision not to reopen is entirely down to the charity itself and not this local authority”.
The double-decker bus is set to be gifted to another bus shelter charity in Norwich.
The Bus Shelter IOW charity is in the process of being wound up.
A case of not on our doorstep move along. (Out of sight out of mind) Shocking!