A PROTEST is planned at County Hall on Thursday amid widespread unease about the withdrawal of subsidised bus services in East Lancashire.

Four services in the Ribble Valley and Hyndburn are planned to be withdrawn later this month, after operator Holmeswood Coaches withdrew the service ahead the contract being withdrawn at the start of April.

More than 1,500 names have also been collected in opposition to the county council axing the 65 service through the Clifton Farm area of Burnley.

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans has also raised the matter in the House of Commons, claiming a county council consultation has been a 'sham' and raising 'isolation' fears for elderly and vulnerable people in rural areas.

Mr Evans said: "The county council has embarked on a consultation about the withdrawal of subsidies from bus services.

"The consultation will close at the end of March, but in the meantime the council has already told bus operators that it will withdraw the subsidies, and some services will cease on February 21. "

From that date, the '5' service between Chipping, Clitheroe, Whalley, Langho and Blackburn, along with the '15' bus running from Blackburn to Mellor, Mellor Brook, Longridge and Chipping will disappear.

The same goes for the 14/14A between Clitheroe, Accrington and the Royal Blackburn Hospital, and the '25' bus from Chipping to Blackburn via Longridge, Mellor Brook and Mellor.

Before this week's full council meeting, a demonstration is planned by bus campaigners from Ribchester and a number of Ribble Valley villages.

Bosses at Holmeswood have insisted it was the county council which is to blame, by putting the contracts in jeopardy.

A Lancashire County Council spokesman said: "Whilst many of these bus service contracts are not commercially viable, bus operators are considering whether they could provide some service level in an area, without any level of subsidy.

"Where this is not possible bus operators will de-register the service with the Traffic Commissioner from April 2. We have asked operators if they could confirm their intentions as soon as possible on this matter.

"Holmeswood Coaches Ltd operate a number of county council contracted bus services throughout Lancashire and have given notice that they would be unable to fulfil all of their contracts up to their end dates of April 20."

Some relief may by available for passengers in Mellor after Darwen Coach Services announced a new D15 service between Blackburn, Mellor and Mellor Brook from February 22.

Another operator, Stagecoach Lancashire, is also considering extending either their '1' or '4'' services in the area to Chipping, for Preston College and Cardinal Newman College students.

Cllr Tom Porter, who organised the Burnley petition, said: "People have organised their lives around these services so cancelling them will impact on everyone in our community in some way."