My letter to the leader of Somerset County Council
Dear Councillor John Osman,
It is with very real concern that I write to you concerning the threat to our beleaguered bus services in Shepton Mallet, if these proposed cuts to our bus service are made it would effectively cut Shepton off at weekends.
Shepton Mallet is a growing town and it needs a public transport system that allows residents who do not have access to a car to travel at a reasonable cost, this to get to work, or visit friends and family, to visit hospitals, arts and leisure facilities that Shepton so badly lacks.
Shepton suffered badly in the last round of cuts with the loss of buses on a Sunday, this latest round of cuts reinforces the view that Shepton Mallet is treated much worse than any other Mendip towns, this is both unacceptable and unfair, for you not to intervene would amount to a betrayal of your responsibility to treat all residents of the County fairly.
The current substandard bus service needs improving to encourage people to use the buses, it is essential that the current minimum service is maintained, Shepton Mallet has no cinema, no theatre, no indoor swimming pool, very little in terms of culture and the cuts would deny the means for none car drivers to access these basic facilities on a weekend. This would affect those families with children whose only access to travel is through the bus services.
Cutting off of Shepton is unacceptable, I hope you will accept this and reconsider the proposals to remove bus services on a Saturday, these cuts will have a very real impact on real people lives and have a disproportionate impact on residents of Shepton and its surrounding villages.
I hope you will reconsider these cuts to our buses.
Best Regards
