A NEW bus service will help tackle isolation in a west Cumbrian town, but if it is not used it will be lost - warns mayor.

When Story Homes was granted permission to build the Strawberry Grange development in Cockermouth, it was told by planners it could have the go-ahead if it provided a service from the estate into the town.

And Cockermouth Town Council has decided to take the opportunity to extend the route to serve other estates in the area.

Councillor Julie Laidlaw, town mayor, said: “There are three routes and each route covers a different part of town, we didn’t have a bus up to The Moor and no bus up by the hospital, so that’s what we’re introducing.

“In a town the size of Cockermouth, if there is no bus, there is no way of connecting.

“It will help elderly people get into town and it will make people feel less isolated, that’s why it’s important.”

Stagecoach will be running the service, but if the additional route to the one subsidised by Story Homes does not achieve the minimum fares needed to cover the costs, the town council will have to pay for it.

The cost will be of £33 a day.

The additional route proposed by the council was made possible since it takes half an hour for the hourly bus to go from the Story Homes development to Rose Lane and then into town.

Had the council not proposed the extension to the route, it would have meant drivers would have been stationary for half an hour between the journeys.

But coun Laidlaw has warned that if people do not support the service, it will be lost.

“Either you use it or you lose it.

“The cost is of £33 a day and if that money isn’t made by the bus through the fares, then we have to pay it, but we can’t subsidise it forever.”

Stagecoach said it is in talks with Story Homes and the town council to agree a start date for the bus service, but it is expected it will start by March 1.

The timetable, between 7am and 7pm, will be designed to offer connections with the service to Workington.