CHANGES to a bus service mean elderly people in Odiham will now have to walk more than a mile to their nearest bus stop.

As part of a restructure of its local services, bus operator Stagecoach stopped running its number 30 bus, which ran through the village on its way between Basingstoke and Fleet, on January 5.

The number 13 bus route, which runs between Basingstoke and Liphook, will now stop near The Crown restaurant at the western end of the village – but it will not go along High Street.

It will also mean a bus stop near the Broad Oak roundabout, which was installed in November and caused furore when newly-planted daffodils were dug up, will be redundant.

Richard Harris, who lives in Broad Oak, to the east of village, told The Gazette he has neighbours who would find it difficult to walk to the bus stop by The Crown.

He said: “There are elderly people who live in the High Street, and they too will have to walk to The Crown to get a bus to Basingstoke. The elderly are going to get left behind, which is a crazy situation.”

Councillor Ken Crookes, who represents the village at Hart District Council, has written two letters to Andrew Dyer, commercial director at Stagecoach, asking if the number 13 bus could divert up and down High Street to help elderly passengers.

Cllr Crookes said he had not received a reply to his second letter, and added he thought the request was “perfectly reasonable”. James Arbuthnot, MP for North East Hampshire, has also written to Stagecoach to voice concern about the changes.

But Alex O’Loughlin, marketing manager at Stagecoach South, said that the number 30 was not popular, and even with a subsidy, was not viable.

She added: “Sadly, the suggestion to divert route 13 through Odiham village would not be effective. This addition would mean a 15-minute increase to route 13 passengers’ current journey time and prove very unpopular with our customers.

“We’re sorry that some local councillors are unhappy with our solution. We have tried very hard to ensure that both North Warnborough and Odiham have a bus link with Liphook and Basingstoke – the alternative to which would be no service at all.”

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