Stay at home? (South West Surrey Liberal Democrats)

South West Surrey Liberal Democrats <info@swsurreylibdems.org.uk>

Stay at home?

October 5, 2004 5:38 PM

The next round of Conservative bus cuts will leave some areas with no bus at all.

CONSERVATIVE-RUN Surrey County Council's decision to ignore warnings about future bus cuts will leave some parts of South West Surrey with no bus at all from next February.

People living in Binscombe, The Bourne (South Farnham), Beacon Hill and other villages will have to walk up to a mile or more to catch their nearest bus.

In January this year evening and weekend buses were stopped in many parts of the area. LibDem Parliamentary Spokesman Simon Cordon raised a petition and called on the County Council to reverse the cuts. He warned that if bus routes were downgraded this would lead to more cuts later on. "The Conservatives would not accept that if you cut buses people would have to give up work or visiting and so the remaining buses become less viable. This is why I warned that more cuts would come if the County Council refused to reverse the January cuts. Unfortunately that warning has come true and we are facing some dreadful further cuts from next February. The Tories have started a terrible downward spiral and are destroying our local bus services", said Simon.

Simon has described as "unfair" the Conservatives' decision to take subsidies from buses in South West Surrey and give the money to London cross-routes in the north of Surrey.

"I've found out that one of the reasons for the cuts last January is because they are subsidising these cross border routes with London. This is unfair", he said.

As well as the complete absence of buses planned for some areas, the current through routes from Farnham to Guildford will go if the County Council refuse to reverse the cuts. "It is unbelievable that they can even consider this", said Simon.