A town councillor has urged Cheshire East to provide a Saturday bus service in Alsager which would allow residents to get to hospital appointments in Crewe directly.

Speaking at yesterday's cabinet meeting, Alsager Town Councillor, Sue Helliwell, called on Cheshire East to introduce a Saturday service for the 317-bus which runs from Alsager to Leighton Hospital.

Currently the D&G bus runs from Monday to Friday.

Mrs Helliwell said: "Hospital appointments are available at Leighton on a Saturday, however, residents in Alsager are unable to use a bus with a direct route to the hospital on Saturdays."

The Conservative councillor queried whether there were any other Cheshire East towns that did not have a direct route to their local hospital on a Saturday.

On January 22nd, Cheshire East informed residents that they were lifting timing restrictions on travel for holders of concessionary bus passes.

This was done to help support the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out for the elderly and disabled residents.

Mrs Helliwell referred to a Cheshire East press release where deputy leader, Craig Browne, stated: "This is excellent news for our more vulnerable residents as it allows concessionary bus pass holders greater flexibility to attend vaccination appointments."

Mrs Helliwell added: "I totally agree it's excellent news for some residents, but not all. Alsager residents are unable to get to their appointments on a Saturday on the public transport as the 317 is not in use.

"Residents in Alsager have informed me that they have had to get a taxi to get to their appointment and ask the taxi driver to wait before bringing them home."

Mrs Helliwell asked Cllr Browne to help Alsager residents by adding a 317 Saturday service.

Cllr Browne said: "It is important to recognise that the national guidelines are still affecting both the use and provision of bus services.

"Now is probably not the best time to be launching wholly new services. There are other towns in Cheshire East that don't have a direct bus service on a Saturday including Nantwich and Sandbach although trips can be made by interchanging and this is the case for Alsager as well.

"Passengers can travel to Leighton Hospital via the number three bus to Crewe and then the number six to the hospital.

"I do accept that isn't appealing as a direct journey for residents, but certainly for concessionary passengers there is no additional costing occurred by using the two different routes."

Cllr Browne told cabinet that Cheshire East will continue to have conversations with town and parish councils both to understand their priorities, but also to "seek their appetite" for working with CEC to fund extensions to the borough's supported bus networking future.

The deputy leader for Cheshire East concluded: "We look forward to having those discussions with Alsager Town Council when they feel the time is right to do so."