A RETIRED nursery nurse attempting to alter a cross-boundary bus route says she has been ‘passed from pillar to post’ by a variety of public bodies.

Christine Lowne lives in the Fiveways area of Hazel Grove, and is a Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council resident, but does ‘everything’ in Poynton — in Cheshire East — including caring for her grandchildren.

She says she contacted CEC some months ago about altering the route of the 391/2 bus service so it came closer to her home, with Mrs Lowne’s husband needing to stop driving soon.

She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We live at the Fiveways and may daughter in law wants to live in Poynton, and we help a lot with childcare. We are getting to the stage where we cannot drive. At the moment we can just about do the shopping. If there is no bus I don’t know what’s going to happen.

“We are sort of isolated. That bus which was there before was only hourly, didn’t run on Sundays, and stopped at 5pm — but it was some sort of bus. What can’t they re-route the 391? At the moment, it is nowhere near us. We just cannot get there.

“Where we live there are lots and lots of bungalows. I am not just isolated — there’s lots of us with the same problem. We do everything in Poynton. We feel safe there, my daughter in law is going to live there.

“I felt passed from pillar to post. [Poynton Town Council] said I could come to zoom meeting and speak to the council. I thought I would give it a go but then they said there was no point in doing it.”

Mrs Lowne says that she contacted the LDRS after seeing the news that some Cheshire towns, such as Bunbury, Wrenbury, Audlem, and Nantwich, are set to benefit from £1.26 million of government funding with new bus services being introduced from this summer.

READ MORE > Rural Cheshire East villages to benefit from £1 million bus funding

In response, Cllr Craig Browne, CEC’s deputy leader and cabinet member for strategic transport, said: “We sympathise with Mrs Lowne and we have responded to her again, pointing out that as she is a resident of Stockport borough she should approach Transport for Greater Manchester, the organisation responsible for public transport in Stockport.

“The 391/392 service she refers to follows the Chester Road route into and out of Poynton and, therefore, does not serve the Fiveways area of Stockport. This enables the operator – Go Goodwins – to serve more people and greater areas in Poynton, which is in Cheshire East. Any diversion of this route would deprive other passengers of the service.

“Where CEC provides financial support to bus services, this is intended to benefit residents of Cheshire East, whom we must prioritise over residents from outside the borough.”

You can find out more about bus services in Cheshire East on the council’s website.