THE reduction of bus services in the Bordon area, announced by Hampshire County Council last week, has continued to cause outrage across the affected area. The cuts to services were reported in The Herald last week, and have since attracted criticism from Whitehill town councillors and district councillors. Hilary Ayer, the district's community and portfolio holder for youth and community, has reacted angrily to the cuts. She said: "The loss of evening buses on the 18 service, which serves Bordon, Whitehill and the Heatherlands Estate in Headley Down, is a real blow. "Youngsters at Mill Chase School have repeatedly told us during our lessons with them that they need an evening bus service to access facilities. "In addition, a recent survey of Heatherlands residents undertaken by Drum Housing, shows that the lack of public transport is a key issue on the estate." Other services affected include buses between Alton and Liphook and Alton and Petersfield. There will be a reduction to bus services during the school holidays. The final service that will see changes is the service between Petersfield and Winchester, which will lose four off-peak journeys. Mr Ayer added: "One way forward is that the council will be appoint an officer to research into local transport issues. "They will be working closely with HCC on a pilot scheme to see if community transport minibuses can fill some of the gaps created by the loss of bus services." The county council has since launched a transport scrutiny review- aimed, rather strangely, at finding out the 'effectiveness of the transport services in meeting community needs in the county'. The announcement came as something of a shock to town councillors at the Whitehill Town Council meeting held on Monday, July 30. Don Mayes said: "I don't see the point in asking questions after they've done what they've done. "There's no opportunity to discuss the representations." Bill Wain agreed, and added: "Perhaps when we answer the questions in the review, we could finish every sentence with 'And this will be exacerbated by the recent county council cuts'."
