RESIDENTS of Hightown have signed a petition to have one of their vital bus routes reinstated.

The 41B and 42B service was stopped in December 2017 after D Jones and Son, who ran it, went out of business.

The route ran from Wrexham General train station to Wrexham Industrial Estate, via Wrexham bus station, Market Street, Eagles Meadow, Hightown Farm Foods, Pentre Gwyn, Bernard Road in Smithfield, Queensway, and Pentre Maelor.

Cllr Graham Rogers was handed a petition with 270 signatures by residents of Monger Road and the Barracksfield Estate to reinstate the bus route, which he presented to Cllr David A Bithell, lead member for environment and transport.

Cllr Rogers said: “The lack of services has been a real hardship on people because it means they can’t easily go shopping or leave the house.

“Taxi fares are not cheap, so it means people are spending more money.”

Cllr Rogers explained that a bus route now stops at Monger Road on the inward route, but it still fails to stop there on the outward route.

"There is still more work to be done on this matter, however, progress has been made that a new bus provider (Eagle Coaches) will effectively from June 28 provide routes to affected wards within the Borough, and as far as Hermitage is concerned, will include Bryncabanau Road, Beechley Road, Percy Road, Stockwell Grove, Norman Road and Saxon Street.

"The aforementioned is the outward route from Wrexham bus station to the Redwither Tower (Wrexham Industrial Estate) - this does not take into consideration the problem im having with Monger Road.

"The inward route from Redwither Tower to Wrexham bus station includes all the aforementioned plus Monger Road, the difficulty I have at present is Monger Road is not included on the outward route and I am working diligently with council officers to review the route in question.

"My constituents can be assured in my efforts to include Monger Road on the outward route. I have emailed the respective officers to take up my concerns with Eagle coaches and I have asked them if they will provide myself with a response to my request."

Barbara Edwards, who helped to rally support for the petition, said: “The lack of bus services has kept people confined to their homes.

“People I know have been stopped from socialising because they don’t own a car or can’t walk very far.

“They are really missing the bus service.”

Cllr Bithell said he received the petition and the council member will be aware of the information report that was sent to all elected members.

He added: "I am pleased that this report outlined new services which are due to operate on a commercial basis from June 27 by Easy Coach and timetable changes by Arriva Bus Wales."