Fight to stop axing of Tetbury Yate to Bath Bus
Gloucestershire County Council are planning to axe a vital bus, without consulting anyone in the parishes affected in Cotswold Edge, Yate and surrounding areas.
The 620/629 bus links Tetbury, the A46 villages to Yate - so people can get to the station, health facilities and to buses to Bristol - and then links Yate to Bath - so commuters can get to Bath to work.
But now Gloucestershire is planning to axe it. They have consulted BANES Council, i.e. Bath - but have not bothered to even TELL parishes along the route what they are doing.
Chris Willmore, from Yate Town Council found out by chance."I happened to be at a transport meeting, when it was mentioned. We have asked South Glos Council to protest as strongly as possible and need all the parishes along the route to write as quickly as possible to Gloucestershire County Council, South Glos and BANES objecting. This is too important a route to be axed. We fought for it before, and saved it. We need to do it again."
"I know people in Yate who work in Bath for whom this bus is vital."
Cllr Sue Hope is campaigning on behalf of communities along the A46 affected by this cut.
Dear Cllr Hubert,
ReplyDeleteI’m afraid that this simply isn’t true – I wish you’d taken the time to check your facts before rushing to conclusions. We are reviewing all bus services in Gloucestershire at the moment – but there is no specific proposal for any services yet – certainly none for the 620 you refer to. In any event, as most of the route is within South Gloucestershire, rather than Gloucestershire, it is they, not us, who will be responsible for the significant majority of the funding that it receives!
Yours sincerely,
Cllr Stan Waddington
Cabinet Member for Transport
Gloucestershire County Council
Nobody rushed to a conclusion, and the facts have been checked. Glos CC website confirms major cuts to public transport services, some of which you say in your Budget minutes will come into force in April. Trouble is there is nowhere on the GCC website saying what will go. In correspondence GCC has confirmed they are looking at the Glos bit of this route along with other services. The fact you cannot confirm categorically that you will not cut your funding to this route in the next 12 months leads to legitimate fear. If you could confirm you will not cut any of your money for this route in the 11/12 financial year, we can all shut up. If not, it seems to me locals have reason to worry. So, please can you post a response confirming you will not cut your funding to this route in the 11/12 financial year.
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