Clwyd West MS Darren Millar has welcomed news that a bus service serving his constituents in Llandegla, Denbighshire, which was scrapped earlier this year, is to be reinstated permanently.
Residents were up in arms when Arriva announced that they would no longer be serving the village of Llandegla after reviewing its timetable and service provision in North Wales due to the new speed limits introduced by the Labour Welsh Government.
Darren, along with local Cllr Terry Mendies, raised it with the former First Minister during his visit to rural Denbighshire.
In the Senedd chamber, Darren also called on the Welsh Government’s Deputy Minister with responsibility for transport to make a statement on “the action he is taking to address the adverse impact of the reduction in the default speed limit in built up areas from 30mph to 20mph on bus services”.
He was therefore pleased when Denbighshire County Council announced it had approval from all North Wales authorities to use a portion of this year’s Bus Transition Funding to assist with the change made to this service.
Arriva agreed that they could operate the first and last journey of the X51 in and out of Llandegla, and Denbighshire Council provided a temporary minibus to run the timetable in between until June 29th.
Darren has now received confirmation that from Monday 1st July 2024, Llandegla will be reinstated as part of the X51 bus service, with the bus entering the village as it had previously.
Welcoming the permanent return of the service, Darren said;
“When this service was cut at the beginning of this year as a result of the Welsh Government’s default 20mph speed limit, residents were understandably extremely concerned.
“This bus service is a lifeline for many and without it they would be left stranded.
“I was pleased when Denbighshire County Council agreed to cover the service with a mini bus service, but I think users were always concerned about losing the service in the long term.
“I was therefore delighted to receive confirmation that the service will be back on Arriva’s timetable from the beginning of next month.
“I thank everyone involved in making this happen. It will be very welcome news indeed for residents.”
