PARISH and town councils in Ryedale are fighting threats to rural bus services which they fear could have a dramatic effect on the quality of life of hundreds of people.

There was a big turnout of representatives from local councils at North Yorkshire County Council's Ryedale area committee meeting, where Coun Gaynor DeBarr, chairman of the influential Ryedale branch of the Yorkshire Local Councils' Association, led the opposition to the cuts to some of the heavily-subsidised rural services.

Coun DeBarr, deputy mayor of Kirkbymoorside and newly-elected to the executive of the National Association of Local Councils, told the Gazette & Herald this week that a number of parishes had not been consulted by NYCC over the proposed changes in services.

"I am not against having a review but my concern, and it's shared by others, is that the cuts are already cut and dried."

She added: "It will be yet another diminution of rural services. We have seen shops, post offices, pubs and petrol stations closed, now it's bus services."

If the cuts in subsidies go ahead, such services as the 128 from Helmsley to Scarborough will be hard hit, said Coun DeBarr. "The last bus from Scarborough will be just after 5pm. It is going to hit people getting home from work and those wanting to make hospital visits."

Also likely to be affected, she said, was the Saturday service which links such moorland communities as Fadmoor and Gillamoor to Kirkbymoorside. "This is a service which is used by older people and they look forward to their trip. It will really hit their quality of life if the cuts go ahead."

But the cuts will contradict NYCC's policies of encouraging more people to leave their cars at home and travel by public transport, said Coun DeBarr. "I can well see people who have cars deciding to make an extra journey to Monks Cross instead of going to the Ryedale towns. It will have a significant impact on such places as Kirkbymoorside, Helmsley and Pickering."

Coun DeBarr said the move was a double whammy. "We are having a review of bus services at a time when free travel is coming in for older people and the disabled. But there won't be the buses for them to travel on.

''It does seem something of a nonsense that the county council has spent a lot of money putting up new bus shelters if we aren't going to have any buses."

Coun DeBarr believes the county council should explore other alternatives, such as minibuses, rather than double-deckers or large single deck buses. "People in the Ryedale villages are desperately concerned and I'm sure that people would be prepared to pay a little bit extra council tax if it was going to keep the rural bus services running."

Graham Lockwood, chairman of the local branch of the Federation of Small Businesses, said trade across the region would be affected. He said: "If you knock the 128 service off it will definitely affect rural businesses, there's no doubt about it."

Also under threat is the Postbus which runs three-times-a-day between Malton and Foxholes.

County councillor David Lloyd-Williams said: "A number of people do rely desperately on that once or twice weekly trip into Malton or York.

"I have this image of skeletons waiting at bus stops for buses that will never come. What on earth are we doing with our communities? Pickering, Malton, Norton, Kirkbymoorside and Helmsley will all suffer."

County councillor Clare Wood, executive member for environmental services, defended the proposals. She said: "We are not looking at journeys that carry enough people to make them viable services. If a bus carries enough people there is absolutely no question of cutting the service."

She added that the present level of service could not be maintained with available funds.

The council's public transport manager, Mary Welch, said: "A report will be put to the executive members in mid-February and we are anticipating making any changes towards the end of April."

The issue is expected to gather momentum when the Ryedale branch of the YLCA holds its quarterly meeting at Ryedale House on February 21.

Updated: 14:59 Wednesday, February 08, 2006