Nice shelter...shame about the lack of buses though!

The Call Connect service - heavily subsidised by Lincolnshire Country Council - is one of many under threat.

So, is the ‘off-shoot’ Dial-A-Ride service which serves several communities.

A decision on exactly where the cuts will be made is expected later this month and many villages are waiting anxiously for news.

The situation is perhaps best summed up in Belchford.

There, work has started on a new bus shelter which will be used by schoolchildren.

However, there is a very real chance the school bus is the only one which will ever stop there.

A regular bus service stopped several years ago, leaving residents with the option of using Dial-A-Ride.

Even that is thought to be under threat. Ironically, much of the funding for the shelter has come from the county council which is now looking to make the cuts.

Parish clerk Gillian Mauger stressed the shelter was always planned primarily for children who travel to several local schools - including the Edward Richardson Primary School in Tetford and Banovallum and Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar schools in Horncastle.

She said the issue of bus services had been discussed by councillors who were waiting to see where cuts would be brought in.

She said: “Belchford is not the only village affected. Not everyone has a car. People rely on Dial-A-Ride and if that was to go, it would cause a lot of problems.”

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