Sir.-The bus stops at the top of Kingsclere Road, Basingstoke, have undergone what has been described as "improvements".

A notice proudly proclaims this is the result of a partnership between Basingstoke and Deane, Stagecoach, Hampshire County Council and the contractors. By what stretch of these bodies' imagination does filling in the lay-by areas of two bus stops, almost opposite one another, constitute an "improvement"?

Now, instead of buses pulling in to pick up and drop off without impeding traffic flow, we have the ludicrous situation whereby traffic has to pull up behind a stationary bus or pull out into the centre of the road to overtake. If two buses stop at the same time on opposite sides, the consequences can easily be imagined.

In whose interests is this being done?

Perhaps a councillor would care to explain why they have spent public money on this project.

-Jim Turner, Fencott Place, Basingstoke.