SAVE OUR BUSES: The routes being axed next month

More than a dozen bus services will be withdrawn next month after Northamptonshire County Council ended their subsidies.

Routes across the north of the county being axed from July 22 include those covering Kettering, Wellingborough and their surrounding villages.

They include the Centrebus 35 Great Cransley - Loddington - Thorpe Malsor - Kettering service (Tuesday, Thursday and Friday only).

The Saturday Centrebus W8 Wellingborough - Wollaston - Bozeat service is also being scrapped.

All journeys from Bozeat on to Northampton between Mondays and Fridays will also be withdrawn with a reduced replacement service under review.

The Stagecoach 34 (Brambleside - Kettering - Pytchley - Little Harrowden - Wellingborough - Berrymoor) and 34A (Brambleside - Kettering town centre - Leisure centre) from Monday to Saturday will also be withdrawn.

A replacement of off-peak journeys for Pytchley, Orlingbury and Little Harrowden is under review.

Labour councillor Mick Scrimshaw said: “Councils have a responsibility to provide public services and part of that is to provide transport for people that need it.

“They can choose not to do it which is what they [the county council] have done.

“But that will leave a big gap for some of the most vulnerable people, the disabled, the elderly, the ones that don’t have cars.

“It’s a short-term measure to save a few quid, and if you look at the budgets it is only a few quid, but it is disproportionate to the effect it will have on local people.”

From September 1 the Friday TransportConnect 180 Oundle - Kings Cliffe - Stamford will also be scrapped.

Other villages and towns in Northamptonshire to be affected by bus changes include: Mears Ashby, Overstone, Guilsborough, Welford, Coton, East Haddon, Church Brampton, Scaldwell, Brixworth, Norton, The Bringtons, Pattishall, Towcester, Brackley, Evenley, Aynho, King’s Sutton, Piddington, Hackleton, Harlestone, Long Lawford, Yelvertoft, Roade, Pottersbury, Yardley Gobion and Deanshanger.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire County Council said: “Faced with an unprecedented increase in demand for council services, coupled with significant reductions in funding, tough decisions were needed in order to deliver a balanced budget.

“We have had no choice but to make the difficult decision to review funding of all non-statutory services.

“This includes removing all money paid to support subsidised bus services across Northamptonshire.”

Beth Miller, Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Corby, has set up a petition against the cuts which has gained more than 1,000 signatures.

To view it, click here.