Residents are driving force to bring back cancelled buses

Over 100 residents arrived at a meeting to demand the return of cancelled bus services held at Milnrow Working Men’s Club on Tuesday the 9 December.

Representatives from GMPTE attended and explained that the decision had been made in light of financial savings that needed to be made. Local residents voiced their opinions and views from a variety of perspectives and have asked that the services are reinstated at the earliest opportunity.

Lib Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Andy Kelly, who organised the campaign, said: "Over 400 people signed the petition and over 100 came to the meeting. There is a real need for this bus service.

"We have parents who can no longer drop their children off at school, older people who have become housebound and disabled people who have to pay for taxis just to continue living a normal life.

"As winter sets in and the pavements become icy people are scared about how hard their day to day lives will become."

Local resident Steve Bonynge said: “The way that this service has been cancelled is nothing short of outrageous.

"We are around 500 feet higher up than the rest of the borough and live in the Pennine foothills; many of the people on our estate are older too.

"Our local councillors are doing too little, too late, I just hope by calling this meeting the people of Milnrow and Newhey will get this service back.”

The petition is still running and can be found at http://tinyurl.com/rochdalebus.

The decision whether or not to reinstate the service will be made by GMPTE at the end of January.