Bemused residents – fed up with years of watching their bus shelters fall into disrepair – claim that no one is claiming responsibility for maintaining them.

The four shelters on Cam Drive in Ely are in dire need of some TLC after years of wear and tear and vandals have smashed the glass panes.

The shelters are used by students attending Soham Village College and Witchford Village College as well as the public and pupils say they would rather “stand in the rain than be in the shelters”.

Rhonda Ellis-Warren has lived on Cam Drive since 2004 and says she has “never seen the bus shelters clean” and “something needs to be done”.

Rhonda said: “No one is taking ownership, the shelters are covered in cob webs, they’re filthy and with vandals smashing out the glass it’s impossible for the students to keep warm in the mornings.”

“On rainy days I’ve seen the majority of pupils standing outside of the shelters because they’re so dirty. I’ve looked at what it would cost to clean them myself but I can’t afford it and why should we have to do that”.

In September 2017, Rhonda teamed up with Kevin Evans from the East Cambs Neighbourhood Watch Association to probe the Cambridgeshire County Council for answers.

The battle has been going on for years but in September the passenger transport department of the county council responded: “The shelters are maintained by the City of Ely Council.”

Mr Evans approached the City of Ely Council to hopefully finally get the shelters cleaned up, this was their response: “We are not responsible for the bus shelters on Cam Drive I’m afraid.

“There is an issue with these in that they were never adopted by any authority.

“It is our understanding that the county council refurbished some or all of the shelters last year.

“Our estates manager inspected them and reported that some work had been carried out.”

In October the passenger transport department at the county council got in touch.

“I have been informed that the planning authority (East Cambridgeshire District Council) should have determined ownership of these shelters when the application was approved,” wrote an official.

He said he had asked the district council to “check their records and let me know the answer”.

Rhonda added: “With the new houses on the horizon, the usage of the bus shelters will only need to go up, that’s why it needs to be sorted as soon as possible.”

Mr Evans says he got in touch with Bovis Homes, one of those building locally, who confirmed they had spoken to the county council and was assured the bus stops are the responsibility of the city council.

Rhonda said: “We’re going round in circles and still no one is taking responsibility for the shelters, I hope with more people talking about it, something might be done.”