Bardwell Parish Council launches taskforce for Suffolk buses

Several parish councils have banded together to look for ways to save bus services connecting Diss to Bury St Edmunds.

This came after Simonds Buses, recently bought by Vectare, announced it would cancel certain financially unviable routes, leaving several villages suddenly without any bus service and access to key health and education services.

Prompted by local representatives, who shared residents’ concerns, Suffolk County Council announced it would use the last of its Bus Recovery funding to keep the 337 and 338 routes - now labelled 73 and 70A - running until December 27 while options were explored.

Although welcomed by parish councils, several residents have still been left anxious about bus services after that date.

One of these is Bardwell Parish Council, which is spearheading a task force to ensure a solution is found - it also includes Barningham, Coney Weston, Hepworth, Hopton, Market Weston, and Shepherd’s Grove Park Stanton.

Karen Witton, the vice chairwoman at Bardwell Parish Council, stressed these bus services were a lifeline for many.

She said: “All this has done is buy us some time, but the situation is still critical, people are still worried.

“There are thousands of people who will no longer be able to get into town and support their livelihoods and that of businesses, so it is a critical point.”

Without a solution, Bardwell, a village of just over 850 people, would be left without a single bus service, compared to nine beforehand, resulting in many residents feeling they would be isolated from the rest of the county.

Ms Witton said: “What we’re hoping to achieve is to get an agreement to maintain some rural bus services for connectivity in the broadest sense.

“Any bus service must be able to pay for itself - we are being very commercial about it, we accept a business has to make money.

“What we had before was probably a luxury and we accept we won’t get that, but we need something.”

Having spoken to residents and representatives of neighbouring councils, she suggested potential solutions could include advertising and sponsorship, donations, and even people baying for bus passes even if they have them for free as a sort of subsidy.

Councillor Beccy Hopfensperger (Image: SCC)

Ms Witton said the group would be submitting a bid to the county council’s bus improvement fund in November.

A meeting discussing the bus services will be held at Bardwell PC later on Monday, September 30.

Elsewhere, councillor Beccy Hopfensperger, who represents other impacted villages such as Great Barton, has called for a public meeting and launched a petition calling for the company to review the former 304 — now 70 — and 338 routes.