A PLANNED shake-up of bus services in Shropshire has been described as “chaos” that has caused people to worry about their jobs.

Shropshire Council has scrapped plans to make £405,000 of cuts to local bus services.

It includes dropping plans to reduce the frequency of a bus service in Ludlow town centre.

Instead, the council will look to make £180,000 savings in areas which were brought to attention during public consultation.

But while recognising the reduction in the impact it will have on services, councillors say they are disappointed with the impact the proposals had on the community.

Councillor Roger Evans, leader of the Lib Dems on the council, said: “While I appreciate the fact that all these services are not being affected as much as first feared, this has hung over people throughout the consultation period.”

Councillor Alan Mosley, leader of the Labour group on the council, said that there had been ‘total chaos.’

The climbdown comes after 1,000 people took part in a consultation which the council said was one of its biggest ever responses.

However, Councillor Steve Davenport, cabinet member for transport, said that the changes demonstrated that the council does listen to what people have to say during consultation.

Plans to change the bus services in Ludlow included a proposal to cut the frequency of the service linking the town centre with the Eco Park from every 30 minutes to every 45 minutes.

This resulted in a storm of protest from the town with claims that it would result in fewer people visiting Ludlow and a drop off in the use of bus use.

It was claimed that this in turn would result in more people using cars and that this would fly in the face of attempts to reduce the amount of polluting carbon emissions that are released.