Shropshire Star

Changes to Audlem's bus service

A village's bus services could be cut back as a council looks to save more than £1.5 million.

Published

Cheshire East Council is looking at withdrawing subsidies for a number of services across Audlem, near Market Drayton, to help balance the books.

Under the plans service 75, which connects Nantwich to Market Drayton, via Audlem, would be withdrawn.

Service 79, which runs from Nantwich to Hanley calling at Audlem and Woore could also be withdrawn.

Also service 73, which runs from Nantwich to Audlem to Whitchurch would be changed. The part of the service from Audlem to Whitchurch would be withdrawn.

Audlem Parish Councils said they were 'disappointed' by the proposals and said they were concerned about the impact on people who rely on the bus as their only means of transport.

Heather Jones, chair of Audlem Parish Council, said: "Audlem Parish Council is formulating a response objecting to proposals by Cheshire East Council to reduce the number of bus services to and from the village per day and also to completely remove the services to Whitchurch, Market Drayton and Hanley.

"Councillors are very disappointed that such significant changes are being proposed at a time when the number of houses in the village is increasing.

"Residents to the west of Audlem will lose their service entirely and the opportunity to shop in Whitchurch and Hanley or support Market Drayton market will be denied to part of our community.

"This proposal can only increase the potential for social isolation for those (particularly the elderly) who rely on the bus as their only means of transport.

"The Parish Council has put up posters, provided print-outs of the questionnaire and used AudlemOnLine to encourage regular bus users and other residents who may be affected to have their say before the consultation ends on July 26."

Officials say the focus of the bus review is on providing the greatest value for money with some services presently costing over £5 of subsidy per passenger journey.

Councillor David Brown, Cheshire East Council cabinet member for highways and infrastructure, said: “Changing the way services operate is always a very complex issue.

“Naturally the council wants to weigh up the needs of all our service users for such an important consultation, so we are determined to take every possible opportunity to get the message that we want to hear your opinions out there.

“We will still be investing more than £2m in subsidised bus services.”

The consultation closes on Wednesday, July 26.

For more information, go to www.cheshireeast.gov.uk