Plans for new buses to estate

By Mariam Ghaemi
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
8:39 AM

A BUS company has said it is planning on providing a service to an estate which was due to be left with minimal public transport when another operator pulls out of the town.

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Last Friday FirstGroup announced it is withdrawing its services from Bury St Edmunds and is set to close its depot in the town from March 31.

While most areas of the town are covered by similar routes offered by other bus companies, only First’s 85 service and Galloways’ 384/385 service stop at the Moreton Hall estate – which has a population of about 6,000 – and the Galloways’ service just skirts around the edge.

Yesterday, Jayne Munson, joint owner of Mulleys bus company which operates in the town, said a Moreton Hall service had been “part of our plan for a while”. “It’s been something we have looking at for a while and we will be doing something, yes,” she said.

She added how the firm had anticipated First pulling out of the estate as it had been given Section 106 money for a service there which was due to run out in March, but a spokesman for First said the firm’s decision was not based on this.

He said it was a “business decision,” adding it was “no longer financially viable” for them to operate in the town.

A spokeswoman for St Edmundsbury Borough Council confirmed First’s 85 service had been subsidised with contributions from developers [Section 106 money] and the subsidy was due to finish at the end of March.

She said contributions from a range of developments, such as the Arc and Asda, have been used to fund a number of amenities, including an enhanced bus service for Moreton Hall.

The East Anglian Daily Times also approached Stephensons of Essex, which recently launched a bus service in the town, about whether it would now start up a Moreton Hall route, but MD Bill Hiron is currently away.

Guy McGregor, cabinet member for roads, transport and planning at Suffolk County Council, said the county council had a legal obligation to examine the need for a bus service, but not to provide one.

On whether the county council could provide a service to Moreton Hall, he said he would “find it very difficult, very difficult indeed”.

He spoke of cash constraints at the county council, adding that he was hoping the commercial operators would step into the breach at Moreton Hall.