Worse footprint (From Malvern Gazette)

Worse footprint

10:51am Friday 21st September 2007 in Letters

I HAVE recently returned to Malvern to find that both the bus services that serve our area have been severely reduced. The "town" service has been reduced to a derisory two hour frequency, which is a disgraceful level of service for a large section of a town of close to 30,000 inhabitants. In addition the once high quality 44 service to Worcester, which for most of the day had a 15 minute interval, has been split into alternating loops, that in effect only offer a 30 minute service for a large portion of the town.

The blame for this state of affairs lies with the county council. In an era of acknowledged global warming, and centralising of vital services, it is socially and environmentally unacceptable to cut public transport provision in this way. Malvern has recently been singled out for having the worst carbon footprint in the area.

Much of this is due to transport emissions, in no way helped by what was already relatively poor public transport provision. Further reducing public transport in such a drastic way can only worsen Malvern's carbon footprint.

Any political party which sanctions this and allows this situation to continue cannot possibly claim green credentials in future elections.

MICHAEL DEAN, Hastings Road, Malvern.