RESIDENTS in Pewsham fear they will be cut off from Chippenham town centre by changes to the 231 service coming into effect from August 23.

Bus operator First West of England are changing the 231 service, which runs between Bath and Chippenham, so that it will no longer serve London Road and the Pewsham Estate in an attempt to improve punctuality.

Customers have been told they can use the 55/55a service operated by Stagecoach, which serves along London Road every 20 minutes, as an alternative.

Town Councillor Teresa Hutton has received numerous calls from concerned residents regarding the proposals.

She said: “Since the weekend I have dealt with a number of phone calls and emails from very concerned residents who use the bus service on a regular basis.

“With the cancellation a lot of them are going to be very isolated. The 55/55a bus picks up on London Road but for residents who are elderly or disabled they will not be able to walk that distance.

“I am waiting to hear back from Wiltshire Council and I am planning to do some sort of residents meeting in the near future. There may not be anything we can do but we cannot stand by and do nothing.”

Wiltshire Council subsidise two evening services of the 231 bus Monday to Saturday and every service on Sunday.

Regular bus user, Harriet Garfritt, of London Road, said: “This is an absolute disaster for the residents of the Pewsham estate. The bus runs every half hour at the moment and it’s a brilliant bus service for a suburban estate.

“It’s incredibly short notice, people will come back from holiday and expect to go to work and school in September to find there’s no bus service.

“I think it’s absolutely scandalous there are no notices at the bus station. I am really angry at the way it’s being handled and the timing is diabolical.”

Andrew Sherrington, First General Manager for Bath, Wells & Weston-super-Mare said: “We believe that, for the most part, customers will have better, faster bus links. We have listened to feedback from local residents and our customers and have tried to provide a service that better meets their needs.

“For some areas we have had to make cuts. These decisions have not come easily for us. For the most part the services that are being withdrawn are being replaced with faster, more frequent services; however this will be little comfort to those that will no longer have a First bus service.

“We have worked with the various local authorities covering our region; they have tried where possible to seek alternative operators for those services.”

The new timetables will be uploaded to www.firstgroup.com/westofengland from early August under ‘Plan a Journey’. They will be available in hard copy format from mid-August.