By Sam Moorhouse

The scrapping of the 159 bus service between Coalville and Hinckley has been confirmed - despite protests at County Hall.

At Leicestershire County Council's budget meeting on Wednesday said the 159 would be the first to go - but other services could face the chop too, to help balance the county council's books.

A group of people protested outside County Hall, in Glenfield, prior to the authority's annual budget meeting, in an effort to save the 159 service, which will be halted this Saturday (February 25).

They also delivered a petition to the council which had been signed by more than 2,000 residents.

The operator, Roberts Coaches recently announced its intention to stop the service after the county council said it could no longer afford to subsidise it.

The authority confirmed this at the budget meeting and said that not enough people were using it to justify its yearly cost of £162,260.

Councillor Joyce Crooks, a Liberal Democrat representative attended the protest because 159 services runs through the area she represents, including the villages of Newbold Verdon, Desford and Peckleton.

She said the cut will effect "people's lives" and "puts jobs and health at risk."

She said: "There are so many people that use this bus service to go to work, to go to college in both Hinckley and Coalville.

"If you want to access any of the healthcare facilities in Hinckley, none of the villages who are on this route will no longer be able to access them – not easily anyways. It is unbelievable."

A resident from Barlestone, another Hinckley area village on the route, added: "We already have to put ourselves out to take our daughter to work on weekends because the bus doesn't run then.

Image: Pixabay

"But now we don't know how it's going to work as we can't take her in the week and we have jobs. We don't know what we are going to do.

"The service runs between two major industrial employer towns and I just don't understand it. I think there is enough demand for the route to run without the council funding, from an independent company."

The council is looking at providing alternatives to the bus services called "demand responsive transport" – which would involve using a local taxi service which can be used to book a trip on certain days for a similar cost to a bus fair.

But the on-demand service will only be on offer for two or three days a week.

Councillor Ozzy O'Shea, lead for transport, said during the meeting: "If we had the money, we would do a lot more. We do not have the money. Simply all that would do is put a sticking plaster on the service for a few months and it would not keep the service going. They do not have the footfall.

"We aren't in the financial position to afford this, it's emotive I appreciate it. People who sign the petitions, they want the bus back but a lot of them don't use the buses.

"If a lot more people used them, we wouldn't be in this position. We simply don't have the funds to offer what you want. We'll keep as many going as we can."

Up to 26 more services are in danger of being cut by the council also, in an effort to plug the £88 million hole in its budget.

Services to Leicester, Loughborough, Market Harborough, Birstall, Syston, Thurmaston, Coalville, Melton and Measham are all in the firing line and first could be cut as early as August.

Each service will be reviewed by the council in a four-round process and a decision on whether or not the routes will be subsidised will take place at a later date.