Rothwell, Desborough and Geddington bus services set to be slashed in County Council cutbacks

2.06.36am GMT Fri 12th Feb 2010

Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Chris Nelson has criticised Conservative proposals to slash rural bus services in Kettering constituency

Proposals to reduce County Council subsidised bus services have been put out for consultation by a Cabinet meeting of Northamptonshire County Council - and sees big cuts to services across Kettering constituency, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate Chris Nelson has warned.

Chris Nelson, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Kettering said, "I am very concerned about the effect of these reductions to bus services across Kettering constituency."

"With seven fewer buses every day to Rothwell and Desborough, severely reduced services to Geddington and Pytchley and a complete cancellation of bus services to Loddington and Thorpe Malsor, these plans if carried out would represent a savage blow for the Conservatives' claims to support small towns and rural communities," he continued

"When the Government are urging people to use more public transport and cut their car journeys, this cannot be the way forward. This will hit hard those villagers that rely on these bus services - with cuts proposed even for the peak time services that help low-income families get to work!"

"I urge all bus users to write to the County Council to oppose these cuts," he added, "and I call on Northamptonshire Conservatives to rethink these short-sighted proposals."

ENDS

A document attached to the NCC Cabinet Agenda indicated that:

• Route 8 (Kettering to Corby, via Geddington) will be reduced from eight journeys per day to just three, with a loss of peak hour services.

• Route 24 (Wellingborough to Kettering via Pytchley) will also be reduced from eight journeys per day to just three journeys per day, with a loss of peak hour services.

• Route 17 (Kettering to Rothwell and Desborough, via Cransley, Loddington and Thorpe Malsor) is to be cancelled. This will result in the loss of two services per day to Rothwell and Desborough, as well as removing bus services completely from Loddington and Thorpe Malsor (Cransley's service is to be incorporated into route 38).

• Route 18 (Kettering to Market Harborough, via Rothwell and Desborough) is to be cut by 50%, with buses running every two hours rather than hourly. This means that route 18 will run five fewer buses per day, in addition to the two buses per day lost on route 17, giving a total cut of seven fewer bus journeys from Rothwell and Desborough to Kettering.

The most recent timetables for these bus routes can be found here:

• Route 8 - Details of route at http://www.carlberry.co.uk/rfnshowr.asp?RN=LEJ08A (Timetable does not appear to be available online)

• Route 17 - http://www.stagecoachbus.com/GetUpload.ashx?Id=612

• Route 18 - http://www.stagecoachbus.com/GetUpload.ashx?Id=669

• Route 24 - http://www.stagecoachbus.com/GetUpload.ashx?Id=669