A BUS operator's decision to withdraw a service following the introduction of the 20mph speed limit has been slammed by the Tweedmill Shopping Outlet. 

From January 14, Arriva Cymru will no longer serve the Tweedmill or the village of Llandegla via its Services 51 and x51, Rhyl to Wrexham. Service 51 will no longer call into Tweedmill and on service x51, Llandegla will no longer be served and the service will remain on A525. 

Justifying why the service is being axed, Arriva Wales said "overall" it is taking longer to operate and punctuality has been reduced.

However, the shopping outlet fears that withdrawing the service could lead to dangerous consequences. 

"The last thing any of us want is for someone to get hurt or even worse killed all for saving a couple of minutes," said Lisa Johns, managing director of the Tweedmill Shopping Outlet.

"The bus service is for our customer wellbeing, as a lot don’t drive.

"We were asked by lots of customers if we could get a bus stop as the stops on the road are a bit of distance, narrow, poorly lit and no shelter, and obviously now we have it we want to keep it. This isn’t from a selfish point of view, but for safety reasons, the road is busy, and it is a 60mph – and from next week staff and customers are going to have to cross it.   

"I can't understand the logic, did they do a risk assessment? Has a member of the planning/commercial team visited the locations of the bus-stops to ensure that they feel they are safe and suitable for their passengers to disembark and to wait for a bus?"

The Tweedmill have shared their concerns with Dr James Davies, Vale of Clwyd MP.

"We are extremely disappointed by the decision," Lisa added.

"Nobody from Arriva informed us, it was staff members. We have been in touch with Denbighshire County Council and they have been very supportive, and it has nothing to do with them, the decision has been made by Arriva in Liverpool.

"Arriva's response was 'the changes are being implemented and have been registered and accepted by the traffic commissioner so will be taking place and cannot be reversed at this stage'."

A spokesperson for Arriva Wales told the Journal and Free Press: "The withdrawal of this service in Llandegla is due to the impact of 20mph on the 51 and X51 services. To be clear this is not to say that Llandegla and its speed limits are the issue but now the service overall is taking longer to operate due to reduced speeds across the network.

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"The consequences of this change in speed has been severe and has caused increased lost mileage and reduced punctuality. We have been open in raising our concerns with Transport for Wales, the Welsh government and local authorities. There have also been press statements and questions raised in the Senedd about this on the basis of our concerns and the consequences.

"As a response to reducing speed of buses there are these options to reduce frequency: speed up buses by withdrawing the service from an area or increase the amount of resource in the bus service.

"This service is already operating at a low frequency and there is no funding to support increased resource going into services so we have had to amend the route with the time saved by not operating in the village," the spokesperson added.

"This time has been reinvested into the service to help it operate to time.

"These changes have taken place based upon a review of patronage and estimated time savings.

"The service will also now not call in to the Tweedmill."

The Tweedmill, spread over 50,000 square feet, sells clothes, homeware, gifts, garden items and benefits from a café and farm shop.