AMBITIOUS plans for Wellington to one day have its own bus service are to be taken forward by a group of local councillors.

The plans – which are still very much in their infancy – would involve electric minibuses serving the residential streets of Wellington rather than the current situation where buses stick to a main route.

An informal working group was initially set up by Cllr Steve Mercer, of Wellington Town Council, along with colleagues Cllrs Sue Fox and Mark Lithgow to look at how they could improve bus services for local people.

The seed of an idea for Wellington to have its own bus service grew from Cllr Mercer taking a holiday in Italy last year where he saw electric minibuses serving smaller residential streets, while the possible scheme was reinforced when he went on a recent “twinning” visit to Wellington’s twin town Immenstadt in Germany which had created its own well-developed network of smaller buses.

Cllr Mercer presented a 22-page report to the town council’s full monthly meeting on Monday (June 2), but he quickly played down the suggestion that he was asking the authority to spend a whopping £1m on the project.

He said that he had seen local newspaper headlines quoting the £1m figure – which would be the start-up funding needed if the council wanted to go for a major scheme with electric buses and have its own depot and service facility in the town.

But he added: “The next line in the report said – for a town of Wellington this is quite evidently not possible.”

Cllr Mercer said that with an increasing population with new housing estates on the horizon an improved system of public transport would become more and more of issue.

“This is the first real attempt to look at a problem and it would be an honour to take this forward. I think this could become a national model,” he said. “These local bus services do happen in many places – admittedly not necessarily in this country.”

Councillors applauded Cllr Mercer and the informal working group for putting together a comprehensive report.

Cllr John Thorne said: “If Cllr Mercer wants to continue with this as an informal group then so be it. But if it becomes a formal council working group then it will have to be done properly.

“We can endorse this in principle, but where does the funding come from? But I’m sure we are behind this.”

But Cllr Justin Cole was slightly less enthusiastic about the council taking on the project in an official capacity.

“My concern is that there is a lot going on in the council at the moment and they will take officers’ time away from their other jobs,” he said. “I just don’t think Wellington is big enough to justify having its own bus service. I really don’t this is a priority for us.”

Councillors voted narrowly in favour of endorsing the project and taking it forward as a formal council working party which reports to the authority’s policy and finance committee.