Residents gather to protest at axing of bus service

11.45.00am GMT Mon 25th Jan 2010

Martin campaigns to save the 'W' bus

Local residents on the Cleevemount estate met up with Cheltenham's Member of Parliament Martin Horwood today to express outrage at the decision by the County council to finally axe the 'W' bus service.

This is after receiving a large petition objecting to the cancellation of the bus, numerous emails and letters from local residents and a meeting with the council involving Martin Horwood in which he argued strongly for the retention of the service.

Local resident Glenda Combe, who has been at the forefront of the campaign to save the bus said "The County Council have failed to listen to any of our proposals to save the service and the only concession they have made is to divert the Castleways 606 through the Estate at 9.19am with a return trip from Cheltenham at 12.00pm Monday to Friday, with no service whatsoever on a Saturday."

Campaigners trying to save the bus service have discovered that there is some money (£54,000) which the council received from the developers of 35-37 Windsor Street which is supposed to be used for 'sustainable transport', and they want this money to be used to keep the bus service running.

Martin Horwood MP is writing to the County Council using the Freedom of Information Act to ask what has happened to this money and to ask them if they have any plans to allocate it towards public transport, several other local residents have signed the request.