VILLAGERS, a shopping centre and its customers have been left feeling angry and "isolated" after a bus service was withdrawn. 

A public meeting was held on Friday, January 12 in Llandegla Memorial Hall after Arriva Bus Wales confirmed that from January 14, it would no longer serve the Tweedmill or the village of Llandegla via its Services 51 and x51, Rhyl to Wrexham.

Service 51 now no longer calls into Tweedmill and on service x51 and Llandegla will no longer be served. The service will remain on A525. 

Justifying why the service is being axed, Arriva Wales said "overall" it is taking longer to operate and punctuality has been reduced.

The Tweedmill have vowed to "fight" to get the bus service reinstated whilst Llandegla Community Council have been voicing their objections to the changes; a community council meeting was held earlier this month.

Concerns put forward included: Increased risk of road-based accidents due to unsatisfactory bus passenger infrastructure; Reduction in access to health services and reduced wellbeing to residents and visitors; Reduction in access to educational provision including Coleg Cambria and Wrexham University and Economic impacts, particularly for the village-based businesses and residents who rely on the bus services to access employment.

In a statement, the community council said: "We are of the view that the rationale offered by Arriva is utterly inadequate. The alleged consultation was unsatisfactory for the purposes of informing a publicly funded public transport decision-making process; the suggested 20 mph argument is disingenuous given the majority of the route through Llandegla has been 20 mph for approximately seven and eight years and this appears to be the only material amendment to the route of this service.

"No good evidence has been provided for the economic argument (which might in any case be overridden by a public service argument), and existing issues relating to bus turning in the village are not material to this change."

One Llandegla bus passenger said: "Public transport plays an integral role in rural communities like Llandegla. It is not just about convenience but also about social inclusion and economic vitality.

"The impact on local businesses cannot be understated. Without easy access to customers who rely on public transport or passing trade from commuters using the bus service between Wrexham and Denbigh, these establishments may face significant losses.

"The situation threatens livelihoods and isolates residents within their own community."

The Tweedmill fears that withdrawing the service could lead to dangerous consequences. 

"The last thing any of us want is for someone to get hurt or even worse killed all for saving a couple of minutes," said Lisa Johns, managing director of the Tweedmill Shopping Outlet.

"The bus service is for our customer wellbeing, as a lot don’t drive.

"We were asked by lots of customers if we could get a bus stop as the stops on the road are a bit of distance, narrow, poorly lit and no shelter, and obviously now we have it we want to keep it. This isn’t from a selfish point of view, but for safety reasons, the road is busy, and it is a 60mph – and from this week, staff and customers are going to have to cross it.   

"We are extremely disappointed by the decision," Lisa added.

"We have had lots of customers asking if we could get the bus to stop again as the one on the main road is quite a walk and they don’t feel safe.

"Customers have asked how they can complain, as to get a taxi here would cost too much money."

A spokesperson for Arriva Wales told the Journal and Free Press: "The withdrawal of this service in Llandegla is due to the impact of 20mph on the 51 and X51 services. To be clear this is not to say that Llandegla and its speed limits are the issue but now the service overall is taking longer to operate due to reduced speeds across the network.

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"The consequences of this change in speed has been severe and has caused increased lost mileage and reduced punctuality. We have been open in raising our concerns with Transport for Wales, the Welsh government and local authorities. There have also been press statements and questions raised in the Senedd about this on the basis of our concerns and the consequences.

"As a response to reducing speed of buses there are these options to reduce frequency: speed up buses by withdrawing the service from an area or increase the amount of resource in the bus service.

"This service is already operating at a low frequency and there is no funding to support increased resource going into services so we have had to amend the route with the time saved by not operating in the village," the spokesperson added.

"This time has been reinvested into the service to help it operate to time.

"These changes have taken place based upon a review of patronage and estimated time savings.

"The service will also now not call in to the Tweedmill."