A long-serving Peterborough City Councillor has raised concerns about the adverse impact proposed but service changes may have on residents in his ward.
Werrington Councillor John Fox voiced his doubts at the authority’s monthly Full Council meeting held at Sand Martin House on Wednesday, July 1.
“Residents of Werrington are concerned about the proposal to alter the route of the 62 bus to exclude the route through Werrington,” he said.
Cllr Fox explained that the current set-up of bus services allows residents to enjoy two-way journeys around Werrington, with Stagecoach’s Number 1 service travelling in an anti-clockwise direction and the number 62 service operating in an opposite, clockwise manner.
“Removing the 62 route through Werrington would leave residents with limited public transport options to visit the doctor’s surgery, the main shopping centre, the main pharmacy and other local venues, by restricting their ability to return home afterwards by public transport,” Cllr Fox protested.
The proposal to replace the number 62 service with a Peterborough Orbital Service has been put forward by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA).
The CPCA is looking into the viability of making changes to bus services it currently funds across the region. If successful, the combined authority will replace four Peterborough services (60, 61, 62, 63) with two new routings: the Peterborough Orbital Service, and the Peterborough Revised Service A (Peterborough to Maxey).
Cllr Fox believes replacing the 62 with an Orbital service would be concerning “Especially now that the Doctors surgery at Hodgson Centre is being moved to the Werrington centre and residents of our four sheltered Housing complexes will be seriously inconvenienced if this goes ahead.”
Leader of the Council, Dr Shabina Qayyum shared Cllr Fox’s view, noting that similar concerns had been raised by Cabinet colleagues when the proposal was first presented to the council’s Transport Committee on June 17.
“Councillor Angus Ellis, in his capacity [as Cabinet Member for Transport], actually expressed an objection to the proposed reimagined Peterborough Orbital Service,” she said.
“It really isn’t orbital because it doesn’t serve the north of Peterborough in the way we would like it to.”
Cllr Qayyum also echoed Cllr Fox’s concerns that the revised 62 service would “severely impact residents” in Werrington.
While she noted it may be necessary to consult with Stagecoach about potentially establishing a clockwise Number 1 route around Werrington if the proposals are successful, Cllr Qayyum said residents’ first point of action should be to make their voices heard during the CPCA’s consultation period.
Anyone wishing to have their say can do so via this link: https://cpca-yourvoice.co.uk/bus-network-review-engagement/
The consultation period will run until 5pm on Tuesday, July 28.
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