Local Lib Dems slam Labour-run council's "costly blunder" as bus routes moved from Royal Parade

Plymouth Liberal Democrats are calling for all bus routes that used to start and end on Royal Parade to do so again, after changes by the Labour-run city council permanently switched several routes to Mayflower Street.

Following a £7.5 million overhaul, which has brought in a wiggly kerb with buses parking up at angles to Royal Parade, several bus routes - such as the 27, 28, 30 and 31, running through Compton, and the 35 and 35A serving Peverell - lost their Royal Parade stops. Passengers are instead dropped off and collected from Mayflower Street.

Residents have told local Lib Dem campaigners that the change has left them having to walk from one end of the city centre to the other to change onto other services, something that used to take no time at all when those buses all stopped at Royal Parade.

Some residents also reported having to carry heavy shopping up the incline between Cornwall Street and Mayflower Street, which they never used to have to do when buses all operated from the flatter side of the city centre between Cornwall Street and Royal Parade.

"It is not steep, but for some older and infirm residents weighed down with shopping, that incline can be a challenge," said Richard Bray, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Compton in the upcoming city council elections.

Richard continued, "We have seen this too many times now from Labour. A lot of public money spent on changes on which we weren't really consulted, and at the end we discover the sting in the tail. Too often they seem to think they know best, and they just don't listen to local people.

"I live in Compton and when I speak with my neighbours and other residents, they tell me how disappointed they are with losing a bus service that serves Royal Parade. It just makes life inconvenient.

"Spending £7.5 million of public money making life worse for local people doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

"The council needs to sit down with the bus companies to see how services can be restored to what they were before, which is what people want."

The Royal Parade scheme was originally budgeted to cost £5 million, but ended up costing taxpayers 50 per cent more, finishing up at around £7.5m.