Ludlow councillors 'not engaged' about bus changes

Shropshire Council has been accused of not engaging with councillors about bus changes in Ludlow.

While the 701 and 702 services are to be retained, like-for-like, the 722 Park and Ride service will be withdrawn from September.

This, say Shropshire Council, is due to very low numbers, and the 702 will serve the Eco Park on all journeys.

Another service that is going is the 745 that operates between Pontesbury, Bishop’s Castle, Clun and Ludlow.

That decision led to Councillor Andy Boddington to leave the Liberal Democrats, saying that no local members were involved or informed of the decisions.

Now an Independent, Councillor Boddington questioned an announcement by Shropshire Council that it would “work closely with local councillors and town and parish councils throughout the process” of retendering bus contracts.

“Why was this not done?” asked Councillor Boddington.

Sign up today to get all the latest news headlines from Shropshire and Mid Wales delivered straight to your inbox with the Shropshire Star’s free newsletter

Responding at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday (July 8), Councillor Rob Wilson, portfolio holder for transport and regeneration, said: “Throughout the review, officers considered passenger feedback, correspondence, service performance information and representations received from members and local councils over a number of years.

“In relation to Ludlow specifically, officers undertook a substantial review of the town bus network during 2025, working closely with local members to develop revised timetables and service patterns.

“Those revised timetables formed the basis of the 2026 retendering exercise.

“At the time, it was made clear that if the 2025 review proceeded, the council would not be in a position to undertake a further detailed timetable review in 2026 due to the resources required to procure and implement the new contracts. That position was understood and supported locally.

“The engagement undertaken therefore reflected both the scale of the programme and the need to balance difficult funding decisions across the county, whilst ensuring affected communities and elected representatives were fully informed of the outcomes.”

However, Councillor Boddington said that members were only informed after decisions were made.

“The issue in Ludlow was not that there was a cut back in service, the services we have remaining could have been made more effective,” he said.

“And that could have been resolved by an exchange of emails because we had already discussed and thought about changes during the last year.”

In response, Councillor Wilson said:  “In October last year, we changed the timetables in Ludlow at the request of local members and people, and developed in consultation with local members.

“There is limited capacity of officers. We cannot keep turning around this wheel – every year, changing services. If we change a timetable six months later, that will see a drop in patronage.”