Bus services set to be cut in Leamington, Warwick and Kenilworth

Bus services across Leamington, Warwick and Kenilworth look set for radical changes as some are cut in half and others are lost completely '“ leaving some villages with no regular bus service.
Several bus services will be affectedSeveral bus services will be affected
Several bus services will be affected

The Courier and KWN have learned that Stagecoach is reviewing its services across the county including the services in the Warwick and Stratford districts and has obtained documents containing the initial proposals.

Long Itchington, Hatton Park, Hampton Magna, Hampton-on-the-Hill, Leek Wootton, and the Rouncil Lane area of Kenilworth all look set to lose their services as well as the stops at Warwick Technology Park, Heathcote Hospital and Leamington Shopping Park.

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The X17 service between Coventry and Stratford could also be cut.

Under the proposals it would operate between Coventry and Warwick only with the frequency reduced from every 15 minutes to every 20 minutes.

A new service 17 would then operate from Warwick to Stratford and West Green Drive. The frequency will be reduced from every 30 minutes to every hour on the section of route between Warwick and Wellesbourne.

A 30-minute service will continue to operate on the Wellesbourne to Stratford and West Green Drive section of route.

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Charlecote would be served on the Warwick to Wellesbourne section so the HRI stop on A429 would not be served. But the HRI can still be accessed from an alternative stop at the rear.

There will no longer be a direct link from Wellesbourne and Barford to Leamington, which would mean passengers would need to change at Warwick bus station.

The journeys that run from Warwick direct to Gaydon JLR would also be cut completely.

The 63/64 services between Rugby and Leamington also look set to change leaving Long Itchington without a regular service.

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The hourly service 64 is to be cut but Stagecoach is proposing to operate an hourly service 63 from Rugby to Leamington via Dunchurch, Stockton, Southam and Radford Semele.

The frequency operating between Rugby, Southam and Leamington would also be reduced from half-hourly to hourly.

The Monday to Friday G1 service which runs between Warwick and South Farm looks set to be renamed to service 1 and the ‘Goldline’ vehicles would be replaced by standard Stagecoach vehicles.

There looks set to be a few minor changes except for Bishop’s Tachbrook potentially losing the peak-only extension.

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This cut is being proposed because of ‘little or no use’. Johnsons provide an alternative service between Leamington and Bishop’s Tachbrook via its 77 service.

The 67 service between Sydenham and Lillington, the 68 service between Hatton Park and Cubbington, the X68 service between Coventry and Cubbington could all be set to change with some stops taken out completely.

The 68 and X68 could be cut. According to the proposals this is because the section of route 68 between Leamington and Hatton Park and the section of route X68 between Leamington and Kenilworth are currently supported by Section 106 funding which is expiring.

The 67 would be renumbered 67/67A and continue to operate every 15 minutes from Sydenham via Leamington and Stud Farm to Crown Way.

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The service will then split to operate every 30 minutes as the current service 67 route to Lillington and every 30 minutes as 67A over the current 68 route to Cubbington.

Under the proposals Stagecoach would no longer provide regular services for Hatton Park, Hampton Magna, Hampton-on-the-Hill, Leek Wootton or the Rouncil Lane area of Kenilworth.

There would also be no service operating between Warwick and Leamington via Warwick Technology Park, Heathcote Hospital and Leamington Shopping Park.

There would also be no regular service picking up at stops at the bottom end of Cubbington Road or on Pound Lane.

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But Stagecoach is proposing to introduce an hourly evening service operating between Sydenham and Cubbington via Lillington with Green Farm no longer served in the evenings.

The 665 service between Napton and Leamington is set to be retendered in its current format.

On Sundays the X17 between Coventry and Leamington would be extended to Warwick to standardise with the Mondays to Saturdays service and it would run every hour.

The service would also operate on Sundays every two hours between Warwick and Stratford via Wellesbourne to standardise with Mondays to Saturdays.

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The X18 service would run on Sundays between Coventry and Evesham every hour between Coventry and Warwick with the service extending to Stratford and Evesham every two hours.

A spokesperson from Stagecoach said that there will be changes to its bus services and that it is hoping to provide the final details next week.

A spokesperson for Warwickshire County Council said: “Stagecoach has informed the council about a number of changes it will be making to commercially-operated bus services in Warwickshire. The changes are based on its own analysis of customer usage.

“As a result we will be looking for new services to cover some of the gaps and reviewing other options within our limited budgets. Whilst we will do our best to minimise the impact of these reductions, we are not able to guarantee that current service levels to all areas will be maintained at this stage.

“Full details of the changes will be publicised on our website (www.warwickshire.gov.uk/buses) at the earliest opportunity.”