COUNTY Hall bosses have stepped in to make sure people in part of Chorley still have access to public transport after their current bus provider decided to withdraw their service .

Stagecoach announced recently that they would be stopping the 109a service through Astley Village after July 21.

However, Lancashire County Council, with help from Chorley Council, have managed to secure a deal to keep a service in the area.

Revisions will be made to a number of routes, with the main one affected being the current Service 357 which serves Chorley and Lower Burgh, and links to the local Tesco supermarket.

This will be withdrawn and reconfigured to provide two new services, the 118 and 119 which each partially replace Service 357, with the 119 including a link to Astley Village.

County Cllr Andrew Snowden, lead member for highways and transport, said “I am delighted that we have been able to agree this new route, which will be in conjunction with Chorley Council and I’d like to thank the local County Councillor, Aidy Riggott, who has passionately put forward the case for saving as much of the route as possible and has worked closely with me on it”.

Councillor Alistair Bradley, Leader of Chorley Council, said: “We were really disappointed to see the existing bus service was being cut by Stagecoach. Like we have in other parts of the borough we’ve stepped in, alongside the county council, to make sure the residents in Astley Village can still access Chorley and other parts of the borough by bus.

“Not everyone has access to a car so it’s really important we do all we can to keep all our villages linked by public transport so people can get to work, get to school and attend appointments.”

New timetable leaflets will be available in the coming days.