CUTS to bus services in Wrexham have left residents feeling isolated, it has been claimed.

It comes as a new report shows that bus budgets in the county have been cut from just under £290,000 to zero in the last eight years.

The Campaign for Better Transport's Buses in Crisis report highlights the local authority as one of only three in Wales which provides no funding for supported bus services, along with Cardiff and Neath Port Talbot.

It stands in contrast to neighbouring Flintshire, where the council still gives £551,352 towards running services, despite being forced to reduce its backing by approximately 50 per cent in the same period.

Llay councillor Rob Walsh said that elderly residents had been left feeling trapped following a reduction in services to the village.

He said: "What we've seen in the last few years has been a disaster for certain parts of Llay.

"It all started a few years ago with the collapse of GHA. Many elderly residents went from having a daily bus service to a taxi service three times a week.

"To top it all off, the worst one came a few weeks ago when the 32 bus service was stopped in Llay.

"A lot of elderly residents from the bottom end of Llay relied on that to transport them to the top end.

"I've had one elderly lady say to me that she feels as if she's in prison now."

Wrexham has been hit by the loss of two major bus firms in the last few years.

Ruabon-based GHA Coaches collapsed in July 2016, resulting in the loss of 320 jobs.

It was then followed by D Jones and Son of Acrefair, which stopped running in December last year.

Bus user Barry Daniels said services to the Bryn Offa area of Wrexham have stopped and restarted twice as a result.

However, elderly residents have been left stranded once again after Arriva Buses Wales became the latest firm to withdraw from the estate in a row over access.

Mr Daniels said: "The older people on the estate are stuck basically. It was only running once an hour, but it was a good service.

"Then the drivers started complaining because there's a bad bend on the estate and they've always had to go up the kerb to get round it because there's no yellow lines to stop people parking.

"The council wouldn't alter the road because they'd have to get BT to remove one of their telegraph poles, so in the end the drivers got fed up and they've persuaded them to run the service through Rhostyllen.

"I spoke to our local councillor and he said the council has no pull because that service isn't financed by them. They don't subsidise it so Arriva can do what they want. There doesn't seem to be any joined up policy really."

Residents have now launched a petition calling for buses to be reinstated.

The report also shows that 259 bus services in Wales have been reduced, altered or withdrawn since 2010-11.

In addition, 82 per cent of Welsh local authorities reduced or spent nothing on supported bus services last year.

Steve Chambers, Campaign for Better Transport’s public transport campaigner, said the figures demonstrated the 'slow death' of bus services in the UK as councils face budget cuts.

He said: "The resulting cuts to services mean many people no longer have access to public transport, with rural areas hit especially hard.

"The loss of a bus service has huge implications - it can prevent people accessing jobs and education; have an adverse effect on the local economy with people prevented from getting to shops and businesses; affect people's physical health and mental well-being; and has an inevitable effect on congestion and air pollution as more cars jam up our roads."

Cllr David A Bithell, Wrexham Council's lead member for environment and transport, said he agreed that cuts to local authority budgets across Wales were to blame.

He said: "The Labour-led administration removed our subsidy in 2013. Wrexham has also experienced two large bus operators cease to trade for various reasons and this has led to a more commercial approach to bus services.

"I am however pleased that Wrexham Council has recently opened the new bus information shop and we have seen new operators (Easy Coach) come to Wrexham and we will continue to work with all operators in Wrexham.

"The council is also currently working with Welsh Government to develop a new bus strategy which will support the North Wales metro project and we hope to see better integration of bus and rail services going into the future."