Fears have been raised ‘lifeline’ bus services in rural areas around Shrewsbury could be cut due to a cash shortfall.
Shropshire councillor Martin Taylor-Smith said the bus service for the unitary council had a £600,000 shortfall and further national government cuts of up to 15 per cent were expected next year.
Services have already been axed in south Shropshire this month. But Councillor Taylor-Smith warned that services in Shrewsbury and north Shropshire could also be threatened and the problem was going to get worse,
“I accept that a lot of the communities are served by these buses and taking them away will cause problems,” he said.
“We have got bus services across the county asking us for subsidies, but we just can’t help everyone and that is why local joint committees have been set up who can decide on how they can spend their pots of money.”
Among the solutions being considered are ending concessionary fares on services running before 9.30am, which he said could save £200,000 a year. Shropshire Council bosses have said no firm proposals were in place, but have admitted that the situation was ‘difficult’.
Caroline Higgins, parish clerk for Great Hanwood, said: “We have been consulted on previous proposed bus cuts and I would expect that to happen again. Were we consulted about any upcoming cuts we would object to them and would support other rural communities in the same position.
“Young people rely on the bus services to get into town and college. Elderly people make up a substantial proportion of our population and they also rely on the buses, often having no other form of transport.”
Louise Walsgrove, parish clerk for Minsterley, said: “This is another blow to the rural areas, not everyone has a car and buses are a lifeline. We’ve had quite a few problems before persuading the council to retain bus services.”
Phil Crossland, Shropshire Council’s assistant director for strategic transport and highways, said: “We are doing all we can to maintain rural bus services in the county. We realise that local buses can be a lifeline for people in our rural communities.
“Obviously, these are difficult times for bus services and, without limitless resources, there are always choices to be made about the extent of support we can give to individual services.
“At this moment in time we have no firm proposals to alter the existing pattern of supported bus services.”