Community appeal for new bus service

Hinstock, between Market Drayton and Newport, is one of the largest villages in Shropshire without its own bus service, according to residents.

They say the elderly feel stranded and disabled people in the village are "desperate" for some form of public transport.

Now a petition calling for Hinstock to be given its own bus service has been launched – prompting signatures from more than a quarter of the people living in the village.

In total, more than 400 have backed the campaign, which was started by local resident Ken Davies.

Mr Davies, who is a university lecturer said: "It’s been many years now since our village has had a bona fide bus service, and it’s about time our ever expanding village had one.

"Our village will soon reach 1,500 inhabitants, possibly the largest village in Shropshire without a formal service.

"Within our village we have elderly people who cannot drive who feel stranded and let down and we have lots of kids who are unable to get to Market Drayton or Newport to spend their pocket money.

"We have disabled people who are desperate for public transport to get them to towns with bus and rail links like Drayton and Newport and many others who simple don’t drive, all of which deserve a service."

Mr Davies said the service would be profitable if people who backed the petition opted to use it.

He said: "I have a 400 plus petition signed by our villagers all wanting a service, arguably if only a small number of these were to use the service it would be enough to make any service operate profitably without any funding."

The petition will be delivered to Shropshire Council's Shire Hall headquarters in Shrewsbury in the coming weeks.

Mr Davies says he has also contacted Hinstock Parish Council urging a discussion on the matter at one of its upcoming meetings.

He added: "During my quest I have found an interesting Government requirement called the Community Infrastructure Levy, which is supposed to invest monies into our community for every new house built.

"This should be yielding many thousands of pounds to our village especially with the two expansion projects currently under way – a small fraction of this money could be used to fund a service.

"For some time now I have been making enquiries as to how and why a village the size of ours doesn’t have a bus service.

"I have spoken to Shropshire Council many times, offering simple solutions such as adapting existing bus services that pass within a couple of miles of our village, disappointingly so far our public servants seem unwilling to work with me on finding a solution."

Shropshire Council were unable to comment at the time of press.