Residents in two villages fear having to cross busy main road to catch a bus (From Keighley News)

Residents in two villages fear having to cross busy main road to catch a bus

11:50am Thursday 25th June 2009

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Concerns have been raised about elderly residents in two South Craven villages who face a “dangerous proposition” when trying to catch a bus to Skipton.

Councillor Mike Scarffe, chairman of Farnhill Parish Council, has spoken out because many villagers are having a difficult time crossing the busy A629 to get to the Keighley & District bus stop leading to Skipton.

“They’ve got a nice new bus stop there but people from Farnhill and Kildwick can’t cross the road to catch the bus. A lot of people are having to first catch a bus into Cross Hills and then get a bus to Skipton from there,” he said. “It’s quite a concern for elderly residents. The buses used to drive in and out of Kildwick but now the two villages are effectively cut off.”

The services into Kildwick were withdrawn in 2007 because of low usage and difficulties encountered by bus drivers trying to rejoin the main road.

Keith Midgley, chairman of Kildwick Parish Meeting, said: “We had two perfectly sited bus stops in the village, then the bus company decided they didn’t like coming into the village because it was too time consuming.

“I’ve had complaints from the people who use those services. There are two groups of people who are particularly vulnerable now, the elderly and schoolchildren.

“To cross that main road (A629) is a very dangerous proposition.”

Vera Dawson is among the local elderly residents who have been inconvenienced by the decision to stop the buses coming into Kildwick.

Mrs Dawson, 88, who lives on Starkey Lane, in Farnhill, said she had to take the bus into Cross Hills if she wanted to go to Skipton.

“I live up the hill and its such a long way for me to walk to the new bus stop and I’d have to cross that busy road,” she said. “When the two bus stops were in the village, they were much easier to get to for everybody.

“But now it’s too far for a lot of people and at my age, it’s not so good.”

She said there were a lot of elderly residents who lived near her and she recalled the story of a woman who caught the bus to Keighley, then went to Skipton and finally came back to Farnhill.

She also said that although there was a Little Red Bus service that served the villages, it had to be ordered two days in advance, which she said was another inconvenience for elderly people.

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