RESIDENTS living in a part of Winchester have been left “extremely dismayed” after their bus stop was moved, leaving the area without a convenient place to catch the public transport.

The stop was located on Sarum Road, at the corner of Romsey Road, but it has been removed without warning, and relocated to outside the West Downs Centre at Winchester university.

The bus stop was put in as a planning condition when the West Downs Centre was being constructed.

Now residents are calling on Hampshire County Council, who deal with the installation of bus stops, to reinstate it.

Anne Odling, a spokesperson for residents in the locality, said: “People round here thought it was excellent. It was opposite the one you alight from at Queen’s Road.

“Everyone was delighted because there is no bus service in this locality, but all of a sudden one day, without telling us, it disappeared and goes right beyond where it was and now outside the main entrance of the university.”

She told the Chronicle that she has a friend who is suffering from cancer who cannot make it down to the university stop to go into Winchester.

“The only bus stop for people living in this area is at the top of Sleeper’s Hill which is on woodland, no pavement to it, so no disabled person could use it. You have to slide down the bank.”

She continued: “It is the longest stretch without a stop because you go from Sleeper’s Hill down to the university and after the university you can throw a stone and there is another one outside the hospital and another one outside the old police headquarters, Arbour Court flats.”

Mrs Odling said that it appears, to residents living in the area, that the authority is prioritising students over council tax payers.

“Why aren’t they looking after residents who are paying their council tax?,” she said. “Everything is done for the university, it is time they listen to the residents.”

If the stop was reinstated then residents in the area would have access to regular buses to take them into the city.

Mrs Odling said: “We would like the bus stop to be put back as an additional stop. I think to have taken it down and say nothing is totally disrespectful to this locality.”

Executive member for highways operations, Councillor Russell Oppenheimer, said: “The bus stop has been moved back to its original location after being temporarily situated on Sarum Road while construction works on the University of Winchester site were being carried out. This was a condition of the planning consent.

“A number of residents have told us that they preferred the stop’s temporary situation, and we are reviewing the matter. Any decision to permanently relocate the bus stop will be dependent on a number of factors, including obtaining a variation to the original planning consent which we are discussing with Winchester City Council.”

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