SADBERGE BUS SERVICES
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SADBERGE BUS SERVICES |
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Update on 30-May-2008
Darlington Borough Council's budget for 2008-09 was approved by the full Council meeting on Thursday 28-Feb-2008.
Darlington Borough Council's Transport Policy Manager, Simon Houldsworth, has attended two consultation meetings in Sadberge Village Hall.
At the first consultation meeting, held on Wednesday 30-Apr-2008, representatives of the relevant Parish Councils and Parish Meetings – including Sadberge, Bishopton, Stillington, Great Stainton and Redmarshall – discussed three possible timetable options. Two options were selected for presentation to local residents.
At the second consultation meeting, held on Wednesday 7-May-2008, Simon Houldsworth presented two timetable options for discussion by Sadberge residents.
| >> | In Option 1 a single bus operates two services to a regular timetable. One service goes in to Darlington along Haughton Road while the other service goes via Middleton St. George and then along Yarm Road. |
| >> | Option 2 is the same as Option 1, except that twice a week the bus breaks off from its regular timetable to do a "surgery shuttle service" between Sadberge, the Whinfield Surgery and the Felix House surgery for either 1¼ hours or two hours. |
| >> | Votes taken at the meeting indicated that, at present, Option 1 is preferred. However, if the minor ailments clinic in Sadberge Village Hall was stopped then Option 2 would be better. |
Click on this link to see the notes of the meeting (PDF format).
The current position (as of 30-May-2008) is that Darlington Borough Council is setting up the contract for the new subsidised service. The new timetable will start in either June or July 2008.
Update on 19-Feb-2008
Darlington Borough Council's Cabinet met on Tuesday 19-Feb-2008 to discuss the Borough Council's budget proposals for 2008-09.
More than twenty Sadberge residents attended the Cabinet meeting to demonstrate their support for the campaign to retain a bus service for Sadberge. Millie Scaife, Chair of Sadberge Parish Council, made an excellent statement reminding the Cabinet members how important the bus service is to Sadberge, supporting Council Leader John Williams' recommendation to amend the draft budget to continue to support a bus service for Sadberge, and saying that Sadberge Parish Council is very willing to work with Darlington Borough Council to design a bus service to meet Sadberge's needs.
The Cabinet agreed to put £80,000 back into Darlington Borough Council's budget for 2008 - 09 in order to continue to support a bus service for Sadberge and the surrounding area.
From discussions with a senior member of Darlington Borough Council staff, the idea is that:-
| >> | The #17 and #97 services will cease to operate, and new service(s) will be introduced for Sadberge and the other villages to the north-east of Darlington. |
| >> | The new service(s) will not run out to Royal Oak, Heighington and Walworth to the west of Darlington. |
| >> | Darlington Borough Council staff will work with Sadberge Parish Council to come up with a timetable that gives the best possible service to Sadberge and the other villages to the north-east of Darlington. |
| >> | The new service(s) should give a service that is at least as good as the current bus services, and it may well be possible to make it better than the current services. |
| >> | The changes to the bus services will probably take place in June 2008, at the end of Darlington Borough Council's current contracts with the bus companies that operate the #17 and #97 bus services. |
Darlington Borough Council's budget for 2008-09 has still to be approved by the full Council meeting on Thursday 28-Feb-2008. However, it appears reasonably likely that the Council will agree to implement the Cabinet's recommendations. Watch this space for any further news.
Update on 11-Feb-2008
Darlington Borough Council's Transport Policy Manager, Simon Houldsworth, came to the Sadberge Parish Council meeting on Tuesday 5-Feb-2008 to present the proposal for a community transport scheme to replace the bus services.
After a full discussion, the Parish Council unanimously decided to reject the idea of a community transport scheme because it would not meet the needs of Sadberge residents. This decision was fully supported by the fifty or so Sadberge residents who attended the meeting.
On Friday 8-Feb-2008 John Williams (Leader of Darlington Borough Council) issued a statement saying that he will be recommending changes to Darlington Borough Council's proposed budget for 2008-09, including "retaining a bus service to Sadberge and examining better ways of distributing Community grants in the rural areas". This is good news, but we still need to take action to make sure that John Williams' recommendations are actually adopted.
| (1) | It would be useful if Sadberge residents could write to John Williams, expressing support for his recommendation to retain a bus service for Sadberge. You can download some suggested words by right-clicking here and selecting Save target as from the pop-up menu. |
| (2) | You can come along to the meeting of Darlington Borough Council's Cabinet in the Town Hall at 5 p.m. on Tuesday 19-Feb-2008 to show support for the recommendation to retain a bus service for Sadberge. If you would like transport to the meeting – or if you can offer a lift to other Sadberge residents – then please contact . |
| (3) | If the Cabinet does not accept John Williams' recommendation then we will want a good number of Sadberge residents to attend the full Darlington Borough Council meeting in the Town Hall at 6 p.m. on Thursday 28-Feb-2008. Watch this space for further information. |
Update on 31-Jan-2008
A representative from Darlington Borough Council will be coming to the Sadberge Parish Council meeting on Tuesday 5-Feb-2008 to discuss how best to provide Sadberge with an effective public transport system. The meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. in Sadberge Village Hall.
Update on 24-Jan-2008
Click on this link to see a letter from a young Sadberge resident.
Click here to see a note (in PDF format) explaining why an effective public transport system is so important to Sadberge and what Sadberge residents need from a public transport system.
The Original Story
| Darlington Borough Council's draft budget for 2008-09 includes a proposal to discontinue the financial support for the #17 and #97 bus services, and to replace these services by a community transport scheme. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Darlington Borough Council's Assistant Chief Executive, Richard Alty, came to the Sadberge Parish Council meeting on Monday 14-Jan-2008 to explain why this proposal is being made. There were more than 85 people present at the meeting, which shows how important the bus services are to the people of Sadberge. | ||||||||||||||||||
| The draft budget is available (in PDF format) on the Darlington Borough Council web site. Click on the link to view it. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sadberge Parish Council has invited representatives of Darlington Borough Council to come to the next Parish Council meeting to discuss the details of how the community transport scheme would work. It is, however, doubtful whether such a scheme could meet the needs of those Sadberge residents who do not have access to cars. | ||||||||||||||||||
You can support the campaign for an effective public transport system for
Sadberge in a number of ways:-
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| If you would like any further information about this, or if you would like to make any comments or suggestions about the best way to protect our bus services then please contact the Chair of Sadberge Parish Council, Millie Scaife (01325-332020) or the Clerk to Sadberge Parish Council, Alastair Mackenzie (01325-333333). |
| Please note: You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view PDF documents. If you don't already have Adobe Acrobat reader installed on your computer you can download it (for free) by clicking on the Adobe logo to the right. |
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