Residents of the small town of Barr are furious over the potential withdrawal of a vital community bus route.

Concerns have been raised about the CB8 bus service that runs from Barr to Girvan, the only scheduled public transport link to the town, after South Ayrshire Community Trust (SACT) issued a letter stating that if funding is not secured the route will be terminated in August 2020.

A campaign group, Barr Needs a Bus (BNAB), set up to fight attempts to withdraw the CB8 bus service, oppose the wording of the letter, which they say “shift[s] blame for failing to find funding from the transport professionals at SACT to the village’s tiny community council”.

SACT, who have applied for funding for the route since its inception in 2017, state in their letter to the community that community organisations involved “do not want SACT to apply to the windfarms for funding again.”

They say that at a meeting chaired by local MSP Jeane Freeman, of Barr Community Council, Barr Community SCIO, Stagecoach, SAC, SPT, and SACT it was agreed that if the service is to continue, community representatives would secure the £30,000 funding.

BNAB dispute this, saying: “Projects in and around Barr can be easily funded by applying to the local windfarm community benefit funds. There is nothing to stop SACT from doing this, but they haven’t done it. Instead they have demanded that we find the money or they will take away our only public transport link.

“Losing the bus would leave elderly and less well off residents unable to get to Girvan to go to doctor’s appointments, do their shopping or to go to work.”

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