Chigwell yellow bus service is no longer free and may soon be discontinued to introduce more social housing

The fate of the free yellow bus service between Grange Hill, Lime Farm Estate, Chigwell Row and the library, that was introduced in 2018, is up in the air.

A local resident asked us to look into the matter of a believed termination of the two bus service which runs at the cost of £6000 per month.  The service that only two years ago was hailed as the only free bus service provided by a parish council
in the country (click here).

We spoke with the Parish Council on the 12th of March and were advised that existing plans did not yet end the useful service, but would initially alter from a free service, to one paid for by passengers. At the time we were not notified of how much the service would cost or if there would be any exemptions.

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The reasons for this decision by seem to be based on the lack of the use of the bus, which Cllr Lions has indicated was empty most of the time. 

Though Epping Forest Community Transport (EFCT), who have been running the service since it's inception in September 2018, provided statistics that illustrated use of the bus was occasionally full to capacity, Cllr Lions believed that many local residents had queried the funding of the bus by the entire Parish, when often the bus was seen to be empty.  

During a Chigwell Parish Council Meeting in January it was agreed that the service would be promoted more rigorously within the Parish - especially in Limes Farm. However, in February only a month later it was decided to make the service one that required a fare for travel starting from the beginning of April.

By the time we were informed of the issue, it was March. Though there were to be two opportunities to attend meetings at which the bus service was to be assessed, these were all cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We asked former Councillor Roger Farthing about his opinion on the matter and he advised us that originally, the bus service had been planned for a 10 year period and at the time of launching the venture funds via Section 106 contributions (planning laws that assert that contractors must pay a dividend into a fund to benefit local community and mitigate impact of construction), would sustain the bus for that period.  From the outset the contract with EFCT, was limited by review to a set of KPI and a term date till April 2020.  It should be noted that the initial outlay for the buses was £120,000, suggesting that a desire existed for a longer term service initially.

We ourselves attended an Epping Forest Tenant and Leaseholders Panel Meeting on 29th January 2020 at Epping Civic offices. During that meeting we were advised that a change in Section 106 contributions could lead to more social housing without the need for projects to mitigate for the effect of new construction.  You can read more about it (here). 

Without having attended any of the meetings at which the Bus Service has been discussed, It is hard to gauge whether the Parish council is being moved to terminate  the bus service, because of the fiscal benefit and need to meet targets by Epping Forest Council.  It should be noted that Cllr Lions sits on both and his primary role would be that of a district councillor. Certainly the end of the bus service would provide over £500,000 that could in essence be used towards social housing.  Our maths is based on the original additional 8 years of allocated funding for the bus at £6000 per month.

Wilson Chowdhry, Chairman of the Chigwell Residents Association, said:

"The removal of the bus service will definitely affect users as we have been contacted directly by those who want to preserve the service.

"Moreover, concerns about the use of funds that would initially have been used for a service that benefits the community, but could now potentially be used to build more social homes, is disconcerting.

"Though I am not against increased social housing, I would be against a policy that chooses such housing at the cost of local infrastructure."

"I have been advised by Chigwell Parish Council's administration that wider public interaction on this matter has been sparse - I am  not sure many knew about it.

"We will be monitoring this situation but feel having been notified so late, that little can be done to chance existing trajectory.

"Certainly, the COVID-19 situation which will result in limited use of the bus and potential temporary termination, place us in a position where decision-making may already be underway."

We do not at this point know what the majority of local people feel about this local issue, maybe it is what the Chigwell Row Community want.  We invite you to share your opinions with us so that we can understand how you would wish our group to proceed with the potential loss of the yellow bus service. You can email us at wilson@eastilfordbettermentpartnership.org or communicate with us on our
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/922737071435885/

Please sign our petition (click here)

More details on the process for the decision can be found (here) and (here) and (here)