A DETERMINED councillor is travelling around North Yorkshire to collect signatures for a petition against county council cuts to bus subsidies.

David McIntosh Powrie, a parish councillor at Crakehall, near Bedale, has been travelling on buses up and down Wensleydale, and visiting market towns to gather support for his petition against North Yorkshire County Council’s proposals to cut a further £500,000 from its bus subsidies.

Councillor McIntosh Powrie, 76, said: “I started the petition because I was asked by lots of people what could be done about it.

“I have been travelling to Northallerton and Bedale to get signatures and intend to go to Leyburn and Hawes too – but I too rely on buses as I don’t have a car so it hasn’t been easy.

“I have spoken to a lot of students who have to get the Northallerton bus to college from the outlying villages – they spend half the day trying to get back home again because there’s no bus service, and for many their parents are at work.

“I have also spoken to two businesses in Bedale who have lost staff over the bus cuts because they couldn’t get into town on time and I’m sure that will be the case elsewhere.”

Cllr McIntosh Powrie said as a pensioner himself he understood the concerns of the elderly population who fear they will be left stranded in rural villages.

“Pensioners like to catch a lunchtime bus to get them to another town up the Dale for a bit of lunch and then know they can get back again,” he said.

“The timetables are getting so confusing now that I’ve spoken to people at bus stops in Bedale and none of us have been able to work out what time they could return.”

With the council facing an unprecedented fall in its Government funding, it has proposed reducing the amount spent on subsiding bus services by a further £500,000, as part of its overall savings target.

The council says that, while services will be retained under existing proposals, it will lead to a reduction in the number of journeys in some areas.

A consultation, which runs until August 14, is designed to allow the authority to respond to local issues and extend innovative community transport schemes which counteract the effect of fewer bus journeys.

The consultation documents are at northyorks.gov.uk/bussubsidy