FEARS that Winsley residents would be left without a bus service during the A36 road closure next week have been eased.

Passengers will now have a replacement shuttle service, thanks to the parish council and the Highways Agency, which is footing the £27,000 bill.

From Monday the 265 First bus service through the village is being suspended for 16 weeks. A shuttle bus will take villagers to and from Bradford on Avon where they can catch the 265, for Bath via Sally in the Wood.

This week bus passenger Jan Denbury, 69, of Tyning Road said she couldn’t be happier at an alternative service being provided.

She said: “I know that the journey to Bath will take longer, but there is no way around it. The roads need to be done and it is a shame, but the parish council work has worked hard to get this.”

However, commuter Chad Engelbrecht, 19, of Hollybush Close, who catches the 265 bus daily for work and college, said he is still concerned it will take him longer to get to Bath.

He said: “I am a little annoyed that I am going to have to work around the limited times and I’ll have to factor in the time it will take to get to Bradford and back. I think I’m going to have to speak to my boss about me possibly being late from next week.”

The parish council came up with the idea when the announcement of the A36 road closure was made in January by Wiltshire Council and the Highways Agency.

John Barnes, a Winsley parish councillor who has been at the forefront of the plans said: “As soon as it was announced we immediately contacted Wiltshire Council and tried to get an alternative service.

“Without their involvement we probably wouldn’t have succeeded.

“We currently have a service which runs every half hour and while this new service is only hourly, it is better than nothing. I think most people will welcome the shuttle service.”

Winsley Parish Council has issued a timetable for villagers on its website.

The shuttle bus leaves from Bradford about every hour from 9.15am until 6.53pm. There will be a Sunday service every two hours.

The route runs in an anti-clockwise loop around Winsley passing down Cottles Lane and past the Tyning Road shop, turning left onto the B3108 into Limpley Stoke Road.

It then passes Dorothy House, the Seven Stars and Dane Rise and leaves the village back along the Bradford Road.