Village ‘sacrificed’ claim as council sets travel priorities

Humnanby, near Filey, which has a population of more than 3,500, was hit by cuts to its evening and Sunday bus services in April.

Now Scarborough Borough’s Hertford ward councillor Nick Harvey is calling on the county council to fund a community transport scheme, to provide access to nearby towns – including Scarborough and Bridlington.

He has questioned the authority’s chief executive Richard Finton over the “unfair” distribution of £1.27m of grant funding for the scheme in rural areas.

Coun Harvey believes the village is being overlooked in favour of other remote communities such as Hawes, even though the council identified the lack of community transport in its local transport plan.

In a letter to Mr Finton, Coun Harvey said: “Our buses were cut, not because of low use, but because the county council had to save money.

However, in March they had been awarded a £415,987 Government grant for community transport, where has this money gone?

“I can see nothing being done in Hertford Ward to help alleviate the suffering of bus service cuts to those on low wages trying to keep in work and vulnerable residents accessing health care.”

Coun Harvey said the bus cuts were the latest to affect the village. In June, it was revealed that Hunmanby Library faced closure unless the community took over the building.

Posing a solution to the county council, Coun Harvey said: “An ideal base for community transport could be a booking service at Hunmanby Library.

“This would help share costs of the library building, producing an income stream that could help to preserve our library.”

Coun Harvey said the library could become a “community hub”, which would also provide a host of other services desperately needed in the village, including access to adult education.

“It would provide the perfect solution for the problems currently being faced by the village as a result of cutbacks,” he said.

A County Council spokesman said: “Coun Harvey’s letter to the chief executive will receive a response in due course.”