A COUNCILLOR is protesting over changes to a bus service which serves estates in the Shaw and Crompton area of Oldham, which she represents.

Today Liberal Democrat Cllr Diane Williamson, has written to Cllr John Leech, Leader of the Opposition on Manchester City Council who is a member of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee, to express her concern about the reorganisation of the 403 service.

Cllr Williamson said: “They have left it so late to ask for our comments, sending an email out today to our district team rather than to the local councillors.

"This appears to be quite deliberate. If you had consulted with us in a timely manner, we may have come up with some others options.”

At present the 403 service provides an invaluable service for those elderly residents who do not own a car and could not walk the 400 metres to the nearest bus stop.

"In particular Crompton ward, where the service would be dropped from, has the highest number of elderly residents in the borough – some of whom are becoming more socially isolated due to factors other than public transport but it is important for them to be able to get down into Shaw to do their shopping or visit the doctors surgery now that the Trent Road surgery has closed."

She added: “A number of years ago I was contacted by local residents living around the area of Sherwood Way and they asked me to see if the 403 could travel anti-clockwise as well as clockwise along that road – and when I contacted the bus service, they looked at the service and said it was possible to do. This enabled more people to use that service when coming home from doing their shopping in Shaw.”

Recently the ward was awarded the Age-Friendly Neighbourhood Awards – this award recognised that Crompton ward was one of the best places to grow older in the city-region. The award recognised the hard work that organisations and older people in Crompton have carried out to make their area is a great place to grow older.

The award also showed that Crompton are committed to helping other older people to feel: independent, safe and secure, and informed about what is going on in their local area.

As anybody who has lived in High Crompton or lives there now, and uses the bus service up there, it is not reliable in the slightest. The 59 service runs every 30 minutes going up to High Crompton, but it is notorious for running late or not turning up. How can you say that this bus service will be able to provide a reliable service for those residents – they are standing up waiting around sometimes for an hour. Neither are nearby services reliable enough to accommodate those residents who live on Sherwood Way or around Great Meadow and Rushcroft.

“If this service is changed you will be leaving elderly people in isolation – their independence taken away in a blink of an eye. It is not on. I would urge you to defer the decision on the 403 and meet with local Councillors to discuss how we can move forward. We are not averse to change but wish to be given the opportunity to explore other ideas” said Cllr Williamson

Regards

Diane

Cllr Diane Williamson

Liberal Democrat - Crompton Ward

Shaw and Crompton District Lead

Shadow Cabinet Member for Social Justice and Communities

Tel: 01706 558036/07805 587327

(webmail)