A GROUP is being put together who will actively investigate the possibility of Wellington having its own local bus service.

Wellington Town Council’s policy and finance committee discussed on Monday (June 9) the terms of reference for a working group to be created.

It comes following some informal meetings between Cllrs Steve Mercer, Sue Fox and Mark Lithgow about Wellington having a hyper-local electric bus service serving residential streets.

The council has been keen to see the group move onto a more formal basis and was given the nod of approval by the policy and finance committee.

“We need those who are enthusiastic about this to come forward and we would be delighted to see a few others involved,” said Cllr Mercer, who has been leading the project.

He said that he doubted that councillors sat around the table at the meeting were “bus experts” and suggested that those with expertise could be invited to attend meetings to offer advice.

“We’ve had considerable interest from other groups about this idea,” added Cllr Mercer.

A 22-page report – produced by Cllr Mercer – had already been circulated among councillors in which he explained that his idea of a local bus service had been forged by recent visits to Rome in Italy and Wellington’s twin town of Immenstadt in Germany which had similar successful schemes.

The report said that Wellington’s need for a local bus service would become more and more necessary with the population set to dramatically increase with the building of new housing estates and that public transport could help to ease the resulting traffic congestion problems.

“Wellington arguably stands at a point in time marking what could be a dramatic change in its structure and size,” said the report. “It has inexorably grown in size, but it retains a largely older infrastructure of principal routes and general facilities.”