Keep the number 7 bus says Borough Council

On Tuesday evening Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council backed a motion which called for the saving of a bus service that covers many local villages.

A motion proposed by Cllr Bill Crooks (Lib Dem: Barlestone) and seconded by Cllr Michael Mullaney (Lib Dem: Hinckley Trinity) called on Leicestershire County Council to rethink proposals to scrap the bus service.

The number 7 bus runs through lots of Leicestershire villages including Fenny Drayton, Witherley, Congerstone, Sheepy Magna and Parva and Ratcliffe Culey. Under Conservative run Leicestershire County Council proposals the number 7 bus would go.

Reacting to the passing of the motion Cllr Bill Crooks said "This bus service needs to be kept. A number of people in these villages who use the bus to go to work have contacted me about it. The Coalition government is trying to encourage people into work, so it's wrong to get rid of the only bus service for people in these villages. There are elderly people in these villages who depend on this bus service too. This bus is a key local service for many residents in these villages and needs to keep running."

Cllr Michael Mullaney said "Almost all of the affected villages don't have shops, don't have doctors, dentists, other services and people in these villages need to be able to travel to towns to access essential services. These are, typically, about 3 to 4 miles from these villages.

"A petition ran by local villagers to have the number 7 bus service re-routed to connect the villages on the current route with Market Bosworth is one we would back and if that is a way of getting more people on the bus service and keeping it running we would support it.

"The County Council currently has about £100million in the bank, to keep this bus service going would only need a tiny fraction of that money.

"I hope Conservative bosses at County Hall will listen to the strong public feeling on this issue in these villages and keep the number 7 bus service running."

Ends