Shrewsbury Town Council looks at funding Sunday bus service

Several members of Shrewsbury Town Council said the authority should consider whether it can provide a subsidy to prevent the loss of six Sunday bus routes to the town.

At last night's meeting Councillor Miles Kenny said: "If needs be we should step in and provide the subsidy."

Leader of the council, Alan Mosley, and Councillor Hannah Fraser, both said they could see the merits in subsidising the service.

Councillor Mosley said: "I do not think we can say we will have nothing to do with these services for the future because I think we have a wider remit to represent the interests of the people and Shrewsbury and those who visit the town.

"I don't think we can draw a line in the sand and say 'this is where we are now, and we will never move into another area'."

Councillor Fraser said: "I think bus services are important and also subsidising bus services is important. There might be a future in which we see ourselves contributing towards a pot that would help to do that in some way."

Councillor Pam Moseley had put forward a motion which called on the town council to meet the bus route provider, Shropshire Council, to "investigate the potential for a modified bus service for Sundays". The motion was passed.

However, there was opposition, with Councillor Peter Nutting backing the call for dialogue with Shropshire Council, but insisting that the town council should not be subsidising the buses.

He said: "The average amount of people is just four people per bus. I do not know if that justifies the costs or not.

"We need to be clear that this is a Shropshire Council matter and the town council's job is only to represent the views of the public."

The routes being axed include the number 1 from Gains Park to Telford Estate, the 8A from Shrewsbury to Shrewsbury Business Park, the 20 from Shrewsbury to Radbrook Green, the 24 Shrewsbury to Harlescott Tesco (via Moston Road), the 25 from Shrewsbury to Harlescott Tesco (via Sultan Road) and the 27 from Shrewsbury to Bayston Hill.

The Sunday routes were cancelled in 2011 before they were re-introduced in 2013.

Shropshire Council has said the routes, which receive an annual subsidy of £44,620, were only re-introduced on a pilot basis while grant funding was available.