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Plans for bigger bus shelters at Haverhill bus station were shown to Haverhill Town Council's meeting last night.

Simon Barnett of Suffolk County Council's passenger transport section showed plans for new shelters and for siting them, after a general outcry greeted the council's first effort at designing a new bus station last autumn.

People claimed the shelters were so small and inconveniently designed that people with buggies, push chairs, frames or wheelchairs could not get on or off the buses from them or in or out of the shelters.

After some delay and a lot of protests Suffolk County Council agreed to rethink the design and Mr Barnett unveiled the results, which are not going out to general public consultation.

The new shelters will be the same length and style, but two feet deeper, and some will have two front entrances rather than the current zig-zag front and back entrance.

The nearest three shelters to Jubilee Walk will have the double front entrance and the further three will be of thr zig-zag type.

The new shelters could not be made any bigger and still fit on the site available, he said.

Mr Barnett hoped they might be installed in April. He assured members that all buggies and frames would fit through the entrances.

A problem had been caused by buses dropping passengers off at the shelters rather than the dropping-off point, he said, but that should now be resolved.

Members asked if a better option than the current 'perching' bars could be devised, and Mr Barnett said they were investigating some flatter seating, but they no longer used tip-down seats anywhere because they were subject to vandalism.

A suggestion of one big bus shelter was not being considered because the county council could not afford it, he said.

The current shelters would be re-used elsewhere and three of them were already spoken for, so this would reduce the cost of the new version.

As there was still concern from councillors and members of the public about the size of the shelters, town clerk Gordon Mussett suggested the county council could provide a mock-up and bring it to the town's market square to re-assure people before the new shelters were ordered.

*Our picture shows the planned design for the shelters with two front entrances.