Reduced bus routes leave us feeling trapped, say villagers

Lesley Scobie from Great Yeldham fears for the future of her village due to bus cuts

People living in two villages say they would consider moving elsewhere unless bus services are improved.

Residents of Great Yeldham and Woodham Walter, in Essex, have seen commercial and taxpayer-supported services cut or cancelled in recent weeks, which some say has left them feeling "trapped".

The 89 bus route in Great Yeldham, which is commercially run, provides the village with one bus before 09:00 on a weekday, while proposed changes to the council-funded 99 service in Woodham Walter could lead to buses only running three days a week.

Lesley Scobie, 63, who lives in Great Yeldham, says: "We are all feeling very disparaged and a lot of people are talking of moving, in fact we've had three people leave the village."

Concerns began in Great Yeldham last month when the 89 bus route's timetable was reduced, which people say has caused issues with those trying to travel to Halstead or Braintree for work or college.

There is only one bus running out of the village on Saturdays.

Mrs Scobie, who is leading a campaign calling for more bus services for Great Yeldham, says: "We used to have such good connections to forward moving buses now there's nothing."

Joanna French and Dorothy Meeks want a better bus service in Great Yeldham

Joanne French, 55, who lives in Great Yeldham, says she struggled to attend medical appointments in Braintree.

"I'm thinking about moving. I don't want to because the community is helping me a lot and since we've had this issue with the buses my neighbours have come forward and given me that self-confidence again which the bus service has really taken away from me.

"I'm getting so upset and don't know what to do," she says.

Dorothy Meeks, 80, who also lives in Great Yeldham, adds: "It's a very bad service. I'm used to going out every day and you just worry all the time you're out, are you going to get back because the buses are just not running at all."

Peter Gaywood from Woodham Walter says he feels lost by the lack of buses

In Woodham Walter possible changes to the 99 service would leave villagers with one morning and one afternoon service three days a week.

Peter Gaywood, 82, who has lived in the village for 40 years, says the proposed timetable would leave people struggling to get to doctors' appointments.

He adds: "The services are not at the best times, and so we are a little lost."

Jane Rennie, 81, says she recently got stranded at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford because the bus back to Woodham Walter was not running.

She adds: "The village is wonderful the people in it are wonderful, but it feels like being trapped.

"My daughter has said if they don't reinstate the bus, I might have to move."

Both the commercial Great Yeldham service and the council-funded Woodham Walter route are run by Transport Made Simple.

Peter Nathanail, the company's managing director, says the firm is considering making the morning school bus from Great Yeldham to Sible Hedingham available to non-school passengers to improve the number of services.

However, he adds, there needs to be "political will" to provide more funding for bus journeys.

"In an ideal world an hourly bus service would be provided in rural communities," he says.

Future funding

Concern in the villages about bus services comes as Essex County Council consults on the future funding of 41 bus routes it financially supports.

The consultation would not impact Great Yeldham's 89 service, but would affect other parts of the county with some well-used routes seeing more buses added, but others face being cut.

Nine bus services, which are run by the bus company First but have been funded by the county council since the pandemic, are particularly at risk, including weekend and evening routes to Southminster, Chelmsford and parts of Basildon.

Piers Marlow, the managing director of First Bus, says: "There are some places where we can still see the opportunity for those routes to grow a bit further, but there will be others where we have not seen the response from customer numbers that would justify it.

"In those sorts of situations, regrettably sometimes journeys will be lost."

The county council's consultation on bus routes closes on October 27.

Tom Cunningham, a Conservative councillor at the authority and cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and sustainable transport, says: "We recognise the importance of a well-connected bus network in Essex, which is why we invest around £11m to support services where there is a need for them.

"However, it is only right that we look at how those services are operating, including how well they are used."

The Department for Transport says it is investing more than £1bn to improve the "reliability and frequency" of buses around the country.