PEOPLE living in Alton’s Eastbrooke and Wooteys wards are being encouraged to attend an open meeting at Wootey Infant School next week aimed at improving public transport.

Starting at 7pm next Monday, June 4, the meeting will be co-hosted by Amery ward district councillor Robert Saunders, Community First chief executive Tim Houghton and town councillor Graham Titterington, also representing Eastbrooke and Wooteys residents’ association.

The objective is to discuss problems facing residents of the Manor and Wooteys estates who are no longer served by a reasonable bus service, and to look at the possibility of providing a community bus.

The area has not been served by a useful service since last June when Stagecoach South made the decision to replace the No38 and No65 town centre bus routes, which took in the two estates, with a new No9 service which only operates for two hours Monday to Friday, offering four round trips between 10am and noon.

It was a real blow for people living in what is referred to as one of the most deprived areas of East Hampshire - an area where a large number of people are elderly or can’t afford to run a car.

According to Stagecoach South, the changes to the No38 service were triggered by a change in opening hours at Alton College, while the withdrawal of this part of the route from the 65 service was due to time issues associated with traffic congestion in Guildford and Farnham, which meant the bus needed more time to complete the journey.

The only way to address this was to enter and leave Alton via a direct route along Anstey Road, rather than taking in the estates.

Commenting on the forthcoming meeting, Mr Houghton said: “Community First provides valuable community transport services across East Hampshire. We are looking forward to working with Alton Eastbrooke & Wooteys Residents’ Association to explore the potential of creating a new community bus service to help residents get to local shops and services in and around Alton.”