NEW plans for a vital community bus service have been welcomed by elderly residents.

Last month Swindon Council backed plans to lay on a special service to help residents left isolated after Thamesdown Transport cut service 21 for Penhill and Pinehurst, and service 23, which ran through Coleview.

The council said they would pay £14,994 for the bus firm to provide an off-peak service for Coleview and the Penhill Valley for up to a year while long-term solutions are sought.

Stratton parish councillor, Peter Watts, has now revealed that the temporary service will also include Saturdays and go via Covingham Square – to the delight of many residents.

Coun Watts said the new plans were a step in the right direction but residents still want a permanent service.

He said: “I have had a meeting with the chief executive of the council and Peter Greenhalgh and put to them the problems that the people foresaw.

“What they were proposing was cutting it right down to a Monday to Friday off-peak service, which wouldn’t take in Covingham.

”We have now managed to get them to change it. It is still off-peak, but now from Monday to Saturday.

“We have managed to agree something that is satisfactory. At least it will mean people will be able to get into the town centre on Saturdays.

“Residents are pleased with the update but they still want a permanent service back.

“What I am saying is people have to use it, or they could lose it in 12 months time.”

Thamesdown Transport announced at the beginning of this year that it will be scrapping service 23, which runs through Coleview, along with service 21, because they are no longer commercially viable.

Scores of elderly residents attended a meeting last month to express their anger over a cut to the bus service in Coleview, and a petition with more than 600 signatures was also gathered.

The new service will start at Stratton park and go via Nythe Road shops, Covingham Square, Greenbridge Retail Park and Fleming Way, before turning around and heading to Penhill via Ocotal Way, Gorse Hill and The Circle in Pinehurst.

The first service will leave Stratton Park at 10.18am, with the last service heading back from the town centre to Stratton Park at 2.30pm.

Penhill resident Jim Hayes, 75, has campaigned to keep the number 21 service and says the change is a big boost.

He said: “It is very good news.The loss of the service hit a lot of people hard financially as they have had to get taxis to places because they can’t walk there.

“It is costing a lot of people money.

“It is good to hear about the Saturday service because a lot of people go out shopping on a Saturday.

“I know the cut backs are severe and we have got to keep on petitioning to get a much needed service back in Penhill.”