A COMMUNITY service that provides transport for isolated people in and around Bidford has been offered a timely financial boost – just as it faced having its budget cut.

At the latest Bidford Parish Council meeting, councillors unanimously agreed to allocate £744 of next year’s budget towards the Community Link transport scheme.

Currently 62 villagers use the district-wide service, which is used for a wide range of purposes including community activities, visiting family and friends, personal business and shopping.

Clerk to the council Elisabeth Uggerløse said: “We are trying to get it to carry on as it is now.

“The parish council thinks it is very important.

If people who use it don’t have this facility they have no other way of getting into town.

“If this was withdrawn a lot of people would be cut off.“ The service, which is run in a partnership between Warwickshire County Council and Stratford District Council, is set to lose £125,000 of its funding from April next year when the latest council cutbacks come into force.

Beverly Hemming, a spokesman for Stratford District Council, said: “The district council remains committed to this excellent service and has been exploring a range of alternative funding streams to supplement the monies available from the council budget for the Community Links transport service for the financial year 2012/13.

“In 2011 there were more than 13,000 passenger journeys made.

“Financial support provided by the parish councils will be highly important in trying to secure part of the shortfall to continue to operate this service, which is of particular value to many older and disabled residents who have great difficulty in accessing main-stream public transport.”

For further information about the service, call 01789 264491.