Under-threat New Forest Cango bus thrown funding lifeline

A LIFELINE has been thrown to an under-threat call-and-go bus service used by less mobile New Forest residents, with two councillors stepping in to plug a £1,000 shortfall.

Contributions of £500 each from county councillor Keith Mans’ grant pot and Lymington and Pennington town councillor Jacqui England’s own pocket towards Cango’s booking service prompted New Milton Town Council to reverse its decision to stop its £2,000 annual grant.

Available to everyone in New Milton, Bashley, Tiptoe, Sway, Hordle and Lymington, Cango buses can be booked to pick up and drop off passengers at chosen stops, as well as calling at regular stops.

They are often used by people to get to and from medical appointments at Lymington New Forest Hospital, and also for shopping trips to Tesco in New Milton and Waitrose at Lymington.

The £6,000 annual running cost of the booking service has had to be covered by town and parish council contributions since September 2015 after Hampshire County Council withdrew funding.

As well as the £2,000 from New Milton Town Council, another £2,000 has been donated each year by Sway Parish Council, with another £500 coming from Hordle Parish Council. However, Lymington and Pennington Town Council has so far declined to provide any funding.

Lymington and Pennington town councillor Alan Penson has defended the authority following complaints from New Milton counterparts over its lack of financial support.

As reported in the A&T, New Milton town councillor Steve Clarke had told a finance and general purposes meeting: “I don’t think the residents of New Milton should have to pay for the wealthy residents of Lymington.”

But Cllr Penson, who chairs that town council’s policy and resources committee, argued the criticism had been made without considering the reasons why funding was decided against. He also stressed many of Lymington and Pennington’s residents were “certainly not wealthy”.

Research into how much the buses were used in the Lymington area had revealed an average of less than six people boarded them per journey, he explained.

He commented the buses were often seen arriving in the High Street and leaving empty even during busy market days,

“Passengers who just turn up may only travel between timed stops, of which there is only one in Lymington and Pennington – in the High Street!” Cllr Penson said.

“On top of this the actual booking service is only available for passengers picking up and dropping off in what is termed the ‘roam zones’. These cover much of New Milton plus Bashley, Tiptoe and Sway but exclude all of Lymington and Pennington except for a small area within Buckland.

“Given that the service in its present form was of little use to 90% of Lymington and Pennington's residents, the town council felt unable to support the request but instead made an offer of £2,000 towards improvements to the Cango service to make it more accessible to its residents.

“It was argued that increased usage, resulting from this, would have the added benefit of making the service more resilient in the face of future cost cutting.”

However, Cllr Penson added the county council had recently indicated it may be prepared to consider some changes in an attempt to gain Lymington & Pennington Town Council’s financial support.

He also stressed the town council supported bus services that benefited residents in and around Lymington, with up to £18,000 allocated in the recently agreed 2019/20 budget to fund a Saturday bus service for the town.

Up until the end of March last year, New Milton, Hordle and Sway’s contributions to the Cango booking service had been added to by £500 grants from then county councillors England, Alan Rice and the late Cllr Ken Thornber.

The £500 grants for this year from county councillor Mans and Cllr England add to the £500 already pledged by county councillor Fran Carpenter.

Welcoming the development, Cllr Clarke told the A&T: “This is good news as we didn’t not want it to run – we just wanted the people who should be paying for it to pay for it.

“I look forward to seeing how it will continue to be used after the new contract from April.”

HCC, which still funds the actual Cango bus service at a cost of £96,770, is now looking to tender a bus service that can be operated within that budget from the start of the new contract in April.