Bus changes to affect residents

Quicker service for some but village loses out

Bus routes in and around Peterborough are changing under revised timetables announced by Stagecoach.

One of the alterations will see buses stop serving Warmington Village in Northamptonshire, with Services 23 and 24 merging into a revised Service X4 from Sunday, May 27.

Steve Burd, Stagecoach Midlands managing director, said: “This will improve the service between Peterborough, Lynchwood and Oundle to Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough and Northampton from every hour to every 30 minutes.

“As part of these changes the existing half hourly service between Peterborough and Lynchwood will be retained and Alwalton, Elton and Warmington services will be provided with an improved regular 30 minute service.

“Regrettably, however, there is not time in the revised operational cycle for Warmington Village to be served.”

Stagecoach has recommended to Northamptonshire County Council that it divert the new hourly Service X45 route via Warmington Village as a replacement service.

Jo Simpson, chairman of Warmington Parish Council, said she was disappointed by the news, stating: “We will do all that we can to ensure that people are not stranded in their homes following the surprise withdrawal of the 24 service and are working very closely with county highways and the bus companies to try to find solutions.

“For our less mobile residents, the Oundle Volunteer Action car service could be a good alternative”

Concerned residents can contact the parish council clerk on 01780 435084.

Changes have also been made by Stagecoach East to: Citi 1/2/3/4/5/6 and Services 21/ 31/33/36/37/38/46/60/61/62/63.

Operations director Zoe Paget said: “We’ve made small changes to our Monday to Friday services – largely a few minutes here and there – to address congestion issues and improve service reliability.

“Also, our Saturday services will switch from a 20 minute to a 10 minute frequency a little later in the morning, to reflect usage levels.”