EIGHT local councils will be asked to consider raising their rating precept to finance a Minehead-Bridgwater bus service to replace the one which ended on Monday, an emergency meeting decided last Friday (October 28).
Williton, Watchet, Kilve, Nether Stowey, Otterhampton, Stogursey and West Quantoxhead have all been affected by the withdrawal of the Buses of Somerset number 14 bus service.
Their councils’ chairmen and clerks also urged the company to continue the service while alternatives were investigated.
These could include a restricted service, a shoppers’ bus running on two or three days a week, or using school buses which were idle during the day.
“The councils are very concerned by the abrupt withdrawal of the number 14 service which is a lifeline to many communities and particularly the elderly,” said county councillor Hugh Davies, who chaired the private Williton meeting.
The meeting was told that, if councils agreed to help fund a revived bus service, one possible system would involve the county council paying for the service and billing each parish separately.
** MINEHEAD and Porlock bus services could have a further reprieve until the end of March if Minehead Town Council agrees to subsidise the new joint service.
At its meeting on Monday, the council’s finance committee was told that the revised service costs £1,000 a month to run and recommended that the authority should contribute £1,500 towards the three-month subsidy.
Porlock and Selworthy parish councils will also be involved in the deal.
As reported in the Free Press, First Bus subsidiary Buses of Somerset last week agreed to keep a reduced joint Minehead-Porlock service going until the end of December at their own risk while the three councils sought funding to support a permanent replacement service.
Full stories in the Free Press (Nov 4)