KINVER councillors have expressed concern over the reduction of their bus service to Stourbridge.

The last bus from Stourbridge to Kinver has been cutback from 7.45pm to 5.45pm.

Kinver has already been without a bus service on Sunday for some considerable time leaving district and parish councillor Lin Hingley to claim: "The reduced service is a great loss to the village and this will have a big impact on students and the less well off who don't drive and cannot afford the taxi fares.

"I already know of one Kinver resident who has moved back to live in Stourbridge because of a lack of public transport."

Kinver Parish Council's Jenny Spaull confirmed: "We lost the Sunday service because it transpired that only one person was using the bus and only one returning on it. There was no demand so it just wasn't viable. I don't know how many passengers are using the service in the week."

Staffordshire County Council's Mark Winnington, cabinet member for economy, highways and transport, said: "As a county council, we continually review the services we subsidise in terms of number of people who use them, costs and whether alternative services are available.

"Where they are found to be unsustainable timetables are amended accordingly.

"We continue to invest £2million in supporting bus journeys. However, in this case, the late evening services were not well used and were costing taxpayers £4.85 each time someone travelled on the bus.

"As a result, it was decided in May to withdraw the later evening services as from September."