HARDLY anyone responded to a consultation on the future of a community bus, according to a borough councillor.

Whitchurch borough councillor Keith Watts told Whitchurch Town Council that he planned to ‘call in’ the decision on the service, when it goes to the borough’s cabinet.

He added: “That’s not specifically because of Whitchurch. The recommendation is to integrate the service with a commercial service in Basingstoke. I am dubious of the feasibility of this suggestion.

“The cabinet is going to be asked to make a decision to cut before anyone knows it works. We are going to have a real row about what we are trying to do.”

He suggested that the consultation drew few responses from Whitchurch residents because, “It doesn’t really serve the Whitchurch community at all. It brings people to come and use the post office, library and pharmacy in Whitchurch.”

The service is run by Basingstoke Community Transport and links Laver-stoke, Freefolk, Litchfield, Woodcott and Whitchurch.

The borough council held a consultation on all subsidised bus routes last year which identified services which are either poorly used, expensive to run or not addressing local needs.

The Whitchurch Community Bus was identified as the most expensive per trip subsidised route in the borough.

The borough council proposes to combine the current route with a new commercial route linking Whitchurch to Basingstoke.