Subsidised bus services face the axe

BUS passengers face further cuts to the struggling public transport network, with around 42 subsidised services facing the axe across the region from April.

The service cuts were signed off by the West of England combined authority on January 18, despite the region’s political leaders hearing that many of the services were crucial in connecting isolated communities and persuading drivers to use public transport instead.

Among the routes facing cuts in the Yate and Sodbury area are the 626 Wottonunder-Edge to Bristol - which is the only current service for Iron Acton - the 622 Chipping Sodbury to Cribbs Causeway, the 84/85 Yate to Wotton-under-Edge and the 202 Chipping Sodbury to Winterbourne.

School services the 967 Westerleigh to Chipping Sodbury School and Brimsham Green School and 680 North Yate to SGS College Filton will be funded until the end of the school year in July under the plans.

Metro Mayor Dan Norris blamed the leaders of Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath & North East Somerset councils for paying the combined authority too small a transport levy, which was less than inflation, so service cuts had to be made.

He said: "We have a real term cut in supported bus services because the levy has not increased. The levy is much lower than in other parts of the country.

"At the moment we have about £20 a head per year for our transport levy, and that compares to the ones at the top of the combined authorities in other parts of the country, that are £60 a head. "There are huge reserves in some of our council areas that could perhaps be used in a way that deals with exactly these concerns, and that’s a political choice."

Mr Norris repeatedly denied that new WEST link on-demand minibuses were replacing the subsidised services.

South Gloucestershire Council leader Toby Savage said many of the council’s reserves are for specific areas and can’t be spent on saving subsidised bus routes - and countered that WECA was wasting money.

He said: "I’ve raised concerns in the past about the West of England’s new offices, and over-reliance on interim staff that are often much more costly."

He said comparing the £20 a head WECA area levy to other regions with trams or metro systems was "comparing apples and pears" and not particularly helpful to the public.

Liberal Democrat group leader Claire Young spoke at the WECA meeting and said some services, such as the 622 and 626, were "the only regular bus for some villages".

She said: "We strongly support using demand responsive transport to supplement regular services - but not to replace them."

Cllr Young also raised concerns that replies to the Metro Mayor’s 'Big Choices on Buses' consultation last year did not appear to have been seen by officers working on WEST link, despite it being "the biggest shake-up in bus services in decades".

She added: "We don’t know whether the feedback was shared with the councils to help them decide which services to support in their area."

Meeting report by Alex Seabrook, Local Democracy Reporting Service

Extra trains: Page 9

Shop closes permanently

THE Yate branch of Shaws the Drapers has closed permanently after the company went into liquidation.

The shop in South Walk closed with no notice or explanation in December, following a sale in which stock was sold off at half price.

It was one of 28 stores nationwide run by the Cardiff-based company, which had been trading for more than 100 years, selling soft furnishings and craft supplies, including wool and yarn.

At the time of the closure there was no explanation from the company but, after the last of the stores closed two days before Christmas and the company's website, Shawsdirect.com, also shut down it was revealed that the company had ceased trading.

An email to staff, shown to the BBC, said they would be paid in full up to Christmas Eve and thanked them for their service.

It said: "I hope that you will understand that after 100 years of trading, this hasn't been an easy decision for us to make, and we fully appreciate the consequences for you, but the business simply is not viable and we cannot see a way of making it so."

A spokesperson for insolvency specialists Stones & Co confirmed they had been instructed by the directors of Shaws to help place it into creditors' voluntary liquidation, under which the company would be formally closed.

Its remaining assets would then be valued and sold to help meet its debts.

Ex-employees entitled to redundancy pay or pay in lieu of notice were being referred to the government's Redundancy Payments Service.