Bus services for new health centre

TRANSPORT to the new White Horse Health Centre on Mane Way in Leigh Park is expected to include two buses an hour from the town centre.

When plans for the new health centre (also known as a Primary Care Centre (PCC)) were announced, one of the main concerns raised by residents was its edge-of-town location and the transport issues that would arise as a result.

Now, services have been announced for when work on the centre is completed in August. Wiltshire Council says, “At the moment the intention is initially to tweek the existing timetable so that on weekdays there will be roughly 2 buses per hour between Westbury town centre and the PCC, and one bus per hour from all bus stops on the existing town service routes to the PCC (and back again) until approx 5.00pm. Therefore hopefully most of the existing users will not notice much difference. We will then review the usage of the service after approximately six months to see if any further modifications are needed to it.

“The only sections of route that will see a reduction in service will be: • The Fell Road / Cleveland Way area of Leigh Park – buses will no longer run through the estate but will use new bus stops along Mane Way and Leigh Park Way (and at the PCC) instead. • Fewer buses will serve the Stormore area of Dilton Marsh, so as to provide time for service 58C to serve the PCC. In practice this will affect very few people as most residents are within easy walking distance of the Prince of Wales bus stop which will continue to be served every hour.
“Please note, however, that there will be no buses to the PCC before 9.00am (the first one will arrive there at about 9.15am). This is because the bus will be performing a school journey before then. Please be aware that if this is not considered acceptable, it will be a costly problem to resolve and so may require some funding from outside of Wiltshire Council.

“We are working on the assumption that this service will have to be introduced from the week commencing 28th August, although this can only happen if the bus turning circle has been completed.”