Council questioned over axed bus route talks

Council chiefs have been questioned over the absence of a record on discussions to remove a community's only bus service to a GP practice.

Bus operator Stagecoach axed the 69 bus in Carlisle from Monday due to costs and an overlapping of other bus services.

Cumberland councillor Brian Wernham said the firm told him they had been in discussion with Cumberland Council over the plan for the last 12 months. However, the LibDem councillor said he could not find trace of those discussions in council papers.

Denise Rollo, who is responsible for transport at the Labour-led authority, said the firm had informally told her about the move in October.

The axing of the service sparked a petition by residents who said the service was a "lifeline" for many.

During a discussion at Cumberland Council's executive meeting on Tuesday, Wernham asked to know why councillors had not been given prior warning of the plans before the announcement the bus would be scrapped.

Wernham told Rollo: "I can find no reference in executive, transport board or full council reports during that period to those discussions, nor any indication to councillors or the public that this vital service was at serious risk of withdrawal."

He said the service was the only one serving the north Carlisle general practice and pharmacy in Eden Street, as well as being the only public transport option for residents of Bowscale Close, Caldew Close and Knowefield Close in his Stanwix Urban ward.

Rollo said the council was in regular discussions with Stagecoach and they were trusted with commercially sensitive information, reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

She added the loss of the service was disappointing and officers were looking into alternative options to cover the route, but there was no timescale and any service would have to be "commercially viable".

In October the council announced it would launch 15 of its own services, with the last four officially launching on Monday.

Rollo told Wernham he could have suggested the 69 bus service as a potential route for consideration.

The residents' petition for the 69 bus is due to be discussed at a meeting of the council's highways and transport strategic board.

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