SCHOOLCHILDREN and commuters will be left to walk one mile along "unlit, un-pavemented country lanes" if a village's hail-and-ride bus service is cut on April 2, say concerned parish councillors.

The Silverdale Shuttle, linking the railway station and village, is one of many subsidised rural bus services facing the axe by Lancashire County Council as it tries to save more than £200 million by 2020.

At a parish council meeting on Monday, attended by 40 members of the public, councillors discussed proposals for a ‘limited service’, with money to come from a £2m county council pot for protecting rural services.

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Parish council chairman Cllr Terry Bond said: “We need to put a case together and convince the county council – we think it would be around six runs a day, but the most important thing for us is getting the kids to and from school.”

Silverdale Parish Council says the cuts will affect villagers "in a major way". It has asked Lancaster and Morecambe MP David Morris to intervene to keep the bus running until alternative plans can be put into place so that passengers are not left stranded.

"It is inconceivable that our villagers, both young and old, should be left in only eight weeks’ time with no option but to walk one mile along unlit and un-pavemented roads to reach the only remaining public transport in the area," Cllr Bond told county council leader Cllr Jenny Mein in a letter on February 6.

Writing separately to MP Mr Morris, Cllr Bond explained: "You know Silverdale and how far it is to the railway station. Those going to work and the schoolchildren are going to be inconvenienced by the removal of the bus. A break in service also makes it difficult for a new scheme to retrieve customers at a later date.

"I urge you to use your influence with the county council to promote a delay in the implementation of cuts in bus subsidies until the alternative schemes are in place."

The Silverdale Shuttle's arrival and departure times are designed to connect with trains to and from Lancaster and Barrow-in-Furness, Mondays to Saturdays.

Parish councillors and villagers are also anxious about proposals for the number 51 bus route from Lancaster to end at Carnforth, not Silverdale.

The county council wrote to parishes about a potential minibus scheme, and Silverdale Parish Council expressed an interest last November, Cllr Bond told the Gazette. However, he said, it is still waiting for further details, and such a scheme would take longer to introduce than the few weeks left before April 2's cuts.

"We have written hoping for a delay in the implementation of the decision to give us a chance to look at alternatives," said Cllr Bond. "This takes time; there is no way we can put together a bus service inside of 6 weeks."

At last week's Silverdale Parish Council meeting, councillors heard that supermarket company Booths would be unable to help with running a bus service. Councillors were told that Booths had cancelled two contracts for bus services as they were too expensive and not used to their full potential.

The council is to write to Traveller's Choice, current operator of the Silverdale Shuttle, to ask how much it would charge to keep running the service for three months.