Villagers let down by bus service, says councillor

Bus services do not travel directly from Skinningrove to the shopping area in Loftus

Villagers are suffering because their local bus services are a "shambles", a councillor has said.

Councillor Barry Hunt says people who live in Skinningrove, East Cleveland, are not able to access vital services in nearby Loftus.

New bus services were launched last year to connect local villages, after a request by Redcar and Cleveland Council.

But Mr Hunt says it still means a 10-minute walk from where the bus stops to the area where shops and local services are situated.

It is a long wait for bus services in an East Cleveland village

The bus services 1 and 2, funded by the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) and operated by Stagecoach, travelled into Loftus but did not go as far as the Market Place, Mr Hunt told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Mr Hunt said this left people to walk up a bank, and recounted how a young mother and her children living in Skinningrove had been unable to attend a Christmas lights switch-on in Loftus as a result.

“The kids were broken-hearted; they could not go see Santa Claus to switch the lights on," he said.

Skinningrove residents have been advised they can change buses, and use a commercial service to complete a journey from the village to the Market Place in Loftus.

But Mr Hunt said: “Why should you have to change and get two buses to get to Loftus? It is absolutely ridiculous and stupid.”

Legal 'constraints'

Mr Hunt said the bus did not go to the Market Square in Loftus due to the lack of a turning point.

But councillor Carl Quartermain, the cabinet member for highways and transport at the council, said competition law also meant the subsidised service could not directly connect Skinningrove to eastern Loftus.

Mr Quartermain said the 1 and 2 connected Skinningrove to a number of destinations “within the constraints set out in law” and the council had worked with TVCA to make a case for the service.

'Excuses'

Mr Hunt said: “Transport is a complete shambles and the 1 and 2 will only take you to the bottom end of Loftus.

“There’s always excuses, there’s laws, this and that, there’s all sorts of things that aren’t right.”

A spokesman for TVCA said that while it procured and funded the routes, the final timetable and routing was agreed by the council.

He continued: “We have worked with councillors and both Arriva and Stagecoach to review various requests to amend the services without hitting the current commercial market.”

He said they would “continue to work to improve the provision of buses”.

The councillors have also met with Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Sir Simon Clarke to air their concerns.