CARMARTHENSHIRE county council has been accused of riding roughshod over Llandeilo, its residents and its history after the authority put up a new bus shelter in the town.

The stop at New Road has gone up without the authority consulting residents or the town council, according to civic leaders.

Town councillors also claimed the move came against advice from the authority’s conservation officer who highlighted that the shelter fell within a designated conservation area of specific architectural interest.

Newly-elected Llandeilo mayor Dawn Wallace told fellow town councillors: “The council has disregarded its own conservation officer, they have not consulted residents and they have not consulted us as the town council – they have simply ridden roughshod over Llandeilo.”

Cllr Richard Wallace added: “There was a site meeting where residents were assured it would not happen without consultation, but within two days they had painted the road markings and built the shelter.

This has been railroaded through.”

Councillor Colin Jenkins asked: “Is the county council going to accept responsibility should there be an accident on a blind bend with three emergency services based within 50 yards?”

However, county council spokesman said a full road safety audit had concluded the shelter conforms with road safety requirements.

“The basis for putting this stop in New Road is to improve integration between connecting services, where people currently have to walk some distance from the stop at the bottom end of the road to connect between services, which can prove difficult for the mobility impaired,” said the spokesman.

“The scheme was consulted upon and a letter explaining it sent to the towncouncil many months before work started on site.

“No representations objecting to the scheme were received back.”

The project is part of a programme for the development of rural and semi-rural public transport interchanges.

“Llandeilo was chosen due to its importance as a destination and key interchange location and the works fits with our commitment to improving sustainable transport in the Llandeilo area,”

said the spokesman.