Town councillors have this week called for urgent repairs – or the removal – of this rusty cash machine in Burnham-On-Sea High Street which they say is an eyesore and poses a risk to members of the public.
At their latest meeting, Town Councillors highlighted the poor condition of the cash and phone machine in the High Street.
Cllr Nick Tolley, pictured, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “If this was a car it would have been written off. It’s rusting badly and there are holes in the metalwork, with electrical wires just inside.”
“It’s a machine we don’t need in the very centre of a High Street in a seaside town. Its condition can only get worse and become more dangerous. We want it repaired and we want it repaired properly.”
It comes a year after we reported here the machine’s owners were given an ‘ultimatum’ to repair it or the council wanted to put barriers around it to protect the public.
Cllr Tolley said: “They sent a couple of people down to paint it, but within weeks the paint was coming off. It’s now one year on and we’re almost at the same position again.”
Cllr Janet Keen said: “Do we even need it there? I question whether it’s needed – there are plenty of ATMs elsewhere in Burnham.”
Cllr Phil Harvey asked: “Presumably it’s on county council land, so can we say that if it’s not properly repaired that we will ask the council to withdraw their lease and they’ll have to remove it. We should either have a decent new machine here or nothing at all.”
The Town Council is to seek BT usage stats for the machine and also approach the owners for a response.