Published: 13/05/2009 00:00 - Updated: 15/05/2009 16:23

Ban buses call on 'exclusive' estate

Residents in Oxley Park are battling against a new bus service running through the estate.

MK NEWS has discovered that a bus was blocked on Harlow Crescent to protest against the new service from Central Milton Keynes.

Residents appear to have waited for a bus to stop and parked cars front and back to stop it moving.

A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said officers were called at 4.10pm on Saturday, May 2 and attended twenty minutes later to help resolve the situation.

Paul Balladon, from Harlow Crescent, has collected 150 signatures on a petition to protest peacefully against the Central Milton Keynes to Westcroft service, which was introduced three weeks ago.

The Number 2 service stops every 20 minutes at three new bus stops inside the Oxley Park estate in Hepburn close and Harlow Crescent.

Mr Balladon said residents are frustrated as the buses run straight through residential streets and are noisy, unsafe for the local children and cause traffic congestion.

He said the lengths some residents have apparently gone to protest shows the severity of the situation.

He said: "It is all three storey buildings down Harlow Crescent which amplify the noise. It sounds like a mini earthquake every single time. The buses run from 7am until 12 at night; we can't sleep."

"This is an exclusive estate and we have managed for three years already without a bus service. The majority of us, if not all, therefore already have our own cars and have no need to utilise the bus service.

"We do not propose stopping it, we do realise they are there for a reason, but we would like to have the bus route only on non residential roads."

A spokesman for the council said it is unlikely the route would be changed as the service is tied in to funding agreements made with the housing developers before the estate was built.

Cllr Douglas McCall, cabinet member for transport at Milton Keynes Council said: "The council has a policy of promoting public transport.

"I have heard from bus drivers who are concerned that some residents have parked cars deliberately to try and stop buses and have been threatened by residents with baseball bats. This is just unacceptable behaviour. We live in a democracy and people are entitled to get on a bus.

"There will be people who will rely on that service. There are buses running through all the other estates, why should this be any different?"

Bus operator, Arriva, declined to comment.

DO you agree or disagree with the bus service? Let us know your views by emailing letters@mk-news.co.uk
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