From Stourmouth to Elvington to Kingsdown to Eastry, all across Dover district and East Kent there is anger and deep concern about the problems that bus cuts will cause in the autumn. Since February 2022, immediately after the budget cut was voted through by the Conservative majority group at KCC, local Green Party campaigners have been working to encourage KCC not to cut bus services used by school children and commuters and village residents of all ages.
Dover and Deal Green Party campaigners launched a petition in February 2022, Save Dover districts bus services https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/save-dover-districts-bus-services-and-bus-services-across-kent/
A local resident, David Stirrup, between Eastry and Woodnesborough, said ‘the bus cuts are causing a lot of worry among people who commute to Canterbury’.
A resident of Elvington said “with bus cuts for school children, how am I supposed to drive one child to Canterbury and another child to Sandwich at the same time in the morning, or get my elderly mother to her GP while I’m working”.
From Kingsdown resident, “We received notification from Dover secondary schools last week that following cuts to funding from KCC, Stagecoach will stop operating school bus services out of Kingsdown in the morning (which allow the children to connect to the Dover buses in Walmer) and the bus which operates to get them home in the afternoon. As a result children from the village will no longer be able to independently travel to schools, and they will need lifts in cars.”
Tom Gale of Preston Parish Council; has protested about the harm the cutting of the 11 bus service will cause young and old people, so has Mike Coleman of Stourmouth PC. ( Axing Stagecoach number 11 bus will leave villagers around Canterbury stranded (kentonline.co.uk)
Pete Findley, Green Party campaigner near Sholden, Deal said, “local bus services are vital to the lives of East Kent village residents, and they allow us to lead greener lives, with fewer cars on the road. It is truly frightening to think of more people trying to walk on village lanes in dark winter afternoons, with more cars on the road”. Cllr Mike Eddy (Grn) of both Deal and Walmer Town Councils said, “these bus cuts will hit hard at a time of this cost of living crisis and rising fuel prices, Conservatives in power at KCC really should think again.”
Cllr Beccy Sawbridge of Dover Town Council said, “These bus cuts will hit a lot of Dovorians hard particularly folks in Aycliffe and Elms Vale.”
From Green KCC Cllrs Rich Lehmann (Swale) and Mark Hood (Tonbridge) “We attended KCC Environment and Transport Cabinet Committee meeting on 6th July to argue against KCC's proposed cuts to bus subsidies across Kent, as 'guest members' (as we are not members of the committee). The removal of public transport will create a potentially irreversible shift in the demographics of our villages and rural areas as they increasingly become populated solely by people with access to a car and the ability to drive it.
In addition to the hundreds of residents who are already heavily reliant on buses, we met with many others who currently drive a car but could see a point in the near future where they felt they would not be safe to drive and, understandably, would like to be able to rely on a regular bus service to maintain their independence.
Many of our villages are also losing young families due to the lack of affordable housing in rural areas, and this decision will only accelerate that trend.
We welcome the proposal to retain the Kent Karrier service to mitigate some of the damage from these cuts, but it is a very expensive safety net with some pretty massive holes.