Proposed changes to a popular Colne bus service could be overturned if a reasonable alternative can be agreed, we can reveal.
Plans for the Service 95/95A, which are due to come into force at the end of the month, have recently been criticised by residents and councillors.
Major fears included the fact that the proposed route no longer includes Byron Road, where many elderly residents rely on the service.
Among them is 73-year-old Elsie Dawson, who uses the bus to get to hospital appointments and who launched a petition to prevent the changes from being implemented. So far, she has filled three pages of A4.
But now, Lancashire County Council has agreed to rethink the proposals, and has asked Pendle Council for its view on an alternative route, which would see Byron Road served, but Thorn Grove and Varley Street taken off.
The council argues that with this option, residents of Thorn Grove and Varley Street would only be a short distance from stops on Skipton Road.
Tim Gornall, bus and supported transport manager, said: “In 2008 we worked with Pendle Council to secure £550,000 funding from a local developer to expand 95/95A for five years, but as that funding has come to an end and the service is not commercially viable it would need an extra £110,000 per year to continue in its current form.
“As a result we’ve been consulting on changes to buses across Burnley and Pendle, including the 95/95A service, which aim to make sure they’re better used and the subsidised network remains viable for the future.”
Responding Coun. Tony Greaves said: “It is ludicrous for the bus not to go down Byron Road – that is where the largest number of older people use the bus service.
“We have to see what the other implications are, but it is good they are looking at the changes again.”