CREDITON COURIER: ALAN QUICK

THERE was delight in Crediton this week when Devon County Council (DCC) announced that it would not be cutting the evening 5 bus services from Exeter to Crediton or the town bus service as had been planned.

The announcements were just two such services which will continue, despite the threat of massive cuts to services across the county due to a funding shortage.

The Crediton town service as well as the service for Ottery St Mary will continue two days a week.

DCC said that more than half of the public transport passenger trips planned to be cut in Devon are now proposed to be restored, following widespread public consultation.

Devon County Council had originally planned to reduce passenger trips by almost 400,000 this year to save £1.7 million, but it is now proposing to reduce this to just under 170,000 after talking to communities across the county.

Out of a total 4.5 million annual passenger trips on all of Devon's supported services – it means that more than 96 per cent of passenger trips on Devon's supported network would carry on unaffected by the revised proposals being put to Devon County Council's Cabinet next week (Wednesday, June 10).

Following a 12-week public consultation earlier this year, in which more than 2,600 questionnaire responses were received along with a number of other letters, emails and petitions, a number of amendments have been made to the proposals while still achieving the necessary savings.

Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Highway Management, said: "I would like to thank everyone who took part on the formal consultation process as well as our officers tasked with going through the feedback.

"We have held a thorough consultation which resulted in over 2,600 responses and, as promised, we have had a good look through all of the comments received and taken everything into account.

"This is the first time that we have proposed making public transport service reductions for four years, and a budget reduction of this magnitude is impossible to implement without some impact.

However, we are fulfilling our commitment not to leave any communities entirely isolated, and the revised proposals reduce the number of affected passenger trips from 400,000 to just under 170,000 which means that 96 per cent of passenger trips on our supported network will carry on unaffected."

Proposed journey cuts will however continue on a large number of routes, one being the 347 Crediton to Cheriton Fitzpaine service.

Alan Quick