A mum had to resort to walking along the A1 path with her baby in a pram to get to a doctor’s appointment because there is no regular bus service in her village, a Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) meeting heard.
The only bus that served Ailsworth, Castor, Wansford and Wittering – where the woman lives with her baby – was cut in 2019, with residents campaigning to reinstate it ever since.
Most recently, residents have taken to appealing to the CPCA, which counts transport provision in the region among its responsibilities, to help reinstate a daily bus service for the villages, where they say teenagers and the elderly are becoming trapped and isolated.
Resident Jean Jackson, who told the CPCA about the case of the Wittering Mum, said she’s “not ashamed” to say that she’s “begging” that the authority “please give us our bus service back”.
“It has been known that teenagers are walking along the A1 path to Stamford to meet friends,” she said at the meeting this week. “Just on Sunday an HGV lorry came off the A1 and crashed into the RAF fence right along the path where someone would be walking.”
The driver of the HGV, a man in his 40s from the Kettering area, died as a result of the crash Ms Jackson referred to at around 3.20pm on Sunday, May 28. No-one else was involved in the incident.
Bus service cut amid ‘heavy operating losses’
After the bus service — the 205 run by Delaine Buses — was cut in December 2019, the company said it was suffering “heavy operating losses” due to the shortage of passengers while Peterborough City Council (PCC) it didn’t have the necessary funds to pay for a full bus service for the villages.
It did instate a Call Connect minibus, though, running between Wansford, Wittering and Peterborough twice a day at peak times and stopping at Ailsworth and Castor on request. Residents can also use Call Connect to pre-book the minibus an hour in advance.
But this is “unsuitable” for “time critical journeys”, another local resident, Helen Daley, told the CPCA, and the minibuses don’t always have space for folded buggies, walking aids or wheelchairs.
Eight of the 10 public questions posed at the meeting related to the lack of regular bus route in Ailsworth, Castor, Wansford and Wittering, with its impact on the elderly and teenagers regular themes.
Retired RAF officer says Wittering base is ‘unattractive’ because of lack of public transport
One of the questions was posed by Dave Hughes, a retired RAF warrant officer who was based at the force’s station in Wittering.
“A lot of RAF families really struggle living at the base without a reliable daily bus service,” he said in a statement read out at the meeting.
“There is now no access for RAF families to the base, so without transport they have to walk three-and-a-half miles along the A1 dual carriageway to Wansford.
“Service Personnel don’t always have a choice where they serve and when they do, they can find it unattractive to be assigned to RAF Wittering and may choose or request not to come because of inadequate public transport.”
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Several residents, including Mr Hughes, referred to the Armed Forces Covenant, to which the CPCA has pledged support, in their appeal, which is a commitment to “treat those in the Armed Forces, and those who have served, fairly” and to help veterans transfer their skills to other forms of employment.
Another resident, Verity Cod, said that the lack of buses has affected her daughter’s decision of which college to attend and that she and her friends are “marooned in the village”, unable to socialise or find part-time work in Peterborough or Stamford.
CPCA ‘striving for solutions’
Mayor Dr Nik Johnson, leader of the CPCA, said that residents’ pleas aren’t falling on deaf ears and that the authority is trying to get regular bus services for the four villages reinstated.
It’s “striving to find sustainable solutions with bus operators that serve everyone”, he said, continuing that “we aim to create an environment where operators can deliver these services sustainably and that includes exploring funding options with Government”.
Dr Johnson also said that he will ask CPCA officers, who have been tasked with undertaking a review of the region’s bus network, to report back specifically on options to serve Ailsworth, Castor, Wansford and Wittering.
The review is due back at a CPCA board meeting in September; in the meantime, it will be discussed with local leaders at meetings in June and July.
Dr Johnson and his deputy, Cllr Anna Smith (Labour, Coleridge), have also promised to visit the affected villages in August to listen to interested parties’ concerns.
Public questions were taken at the first of two back-to-back CPCA meetings this week; at the first, the membership of various committees were voted on and ordinary business marking the start of a new administrative year was carried out.
At the second, a vote on the region’s overarching transport policy was delayed at the last minute amid criticism from PCC leader Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald (Conservatives, West) and Fenland District Council (FDC) leader Cllr Chris Boden (Conservatives, Whittlesey East and Villages).
South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) leader Cllr Bridget Smith (Liberal Democrats, Gamlingay) said the CPCA’s inability to vote on the policy looked “like a shambles”.
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