Yet another Shropshire Bus route has been saved after behind the scenes work by local Liberal Democrat Councillors and officers. Clun Cllr Nigel Hartin and Chair of the Local Joint committee said ‘I am very pleased that Minsterley Motors has come forward to take on the axed 745 route which since its removal had effectively cut off Clun from any scheduled public transport’ The 745 service will run from Pontesbury via Bishops Castle and Clun to Craven Arms and onto Ludlow.
‘This is excellent news’ said Nigel ‘only a few weeks ago it looked like we were facing meltdown in our rural bus services but now all of the services axed by Horrocks have been saved.’
Since these services were withdrawn, hard work by local councillors Peter Phillips and Nigel Hartin & Council officers has persuaded M & J Travel to take on the 773 Newtown and 860 Much Wenlock services from the 8th September, albeit on a fortnightly basis. Now Minsterley Motors will add the 745 (with an extension to Pontesbury) starting up from the 2nd October running on Mondays and Fridays every week.
Councillor Peter Phillips concluded ‘I’d like to thank everyone who worked so hard to make this possible. We now have saved the bulk of these services despite the Lead Member responsible for public transport on the Council, Tory Cllr Martin Taylor-Smith, washing his hands of the matter.’