Campaigners claim East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward’s new bus service announcements still leave some Chesterfield and Staveley villages struggling, after she addressed an operator’s cuts to services.

Stagecoach Yorkshire changed 18 services in Chesterfield and NE Derbyshire to ‘improve punctuality’ with some withdrawn or revised from October 25 amidst running cost concerns and claims of reduced passenger numbers.

But despite East Midlands Combined County Authority’s arrangements for three new services, Staveley Town Cllr Paul Mann and Better Buses East Midlands highlighted continuing problems for Staveley, Hollingwood, Brimington, Barrow Hill and Markham Vale enterprise park commuters.

Cllr Mann said: “I have said from day one of this that the residents of Hollingwood who work at Markham Vale could not get to work now and were even considering going on Universal Credits due to the cost of getting to work and the time it will take too.

Campaigners say some areas have still been left isolated by bus route changes

placeholder image — Campaigners say some areas have still been left isolated by bus route changes

“In all the new timetable that the Mayor was so keen to push, not one of the buses passes through Hollingwood or Barrow Hill leaving approximately 3,000 people stranded with no bus through their village and struggling to get to work.”

BBEM highlighted how a worker from Brimington, Barrow Hill and Staveley would no longer have a direct service to Markham Vale after Stagecoach’s cuts and they would have to catch a bus back into town and get the number 1 or 2 via Calow.

After the Mayor announced new services, BBEM says it still looks like someone in Staveley, Barrow Hill or Brimington will not get a bus to Markham Vale easily.

The cuts saw the withdrawal of the 90 / 90A service beyond Staveley with Markham Vale, Clowne and Creswell no longer being served.

Stagecoach stated this route section was funded to improve access but use was low so it announced all buses would run as service 90, and the 90B inbound buses would be rerouted in Chesterfield via the Town Hall.

EMCCA announced three new services but there is no replacement for the rest of the 90 service from Markham Vale through to Shuttlewood, Clowne and Creswell.

The authority announced a new 27 service, run by SMT Bus and Coach, connecting Staveley, Poolsbrook and Markham Vale to help passengers affected by changes to the 90 or 90A which was withdrawn beyond Staveley so Markham Vale, Clowne and Creswell would no longer be served by Stagecoach.

The 27 service connects with four services at Staveley, which will continue to Chesterfield, including the 74, 77, 80 and 90.

A new 5 service will be launched for Chesterfield after Stagecoach axed the former 5 between Chesterfield town centre and Newbold.

EMCCA instructed Stagecoach to divert Service 15, which runs between Chesterfield, Marsh Lane and Dronfield, to serve affected areas.

SMT will be operating a reduced 5, running approximately every 40 minutes between 9.35am and 2.15pm, Monday to Friday.

SMT will help cover parts of the rerouted 74 which will no longer serve Woodthorpe.

A new 28 runs from Staveley to Woodthorpe via Mastin Moor connecting with the 74, 77, 80 and 90, at Staveley, continuing to Chesterfield.

A BBEM spokesperson said: “While the new bus services that EMCCA has provided will mitigate some of the damage caused by the loss of many bus services, the net effect is a deterioration in bus services for residents and workers in and around Chesterfield.”

EMCCA has been approached for a statement.