Axed bus service back on the road

The Ightenhill circular service was ended in 1997 when Burnley and Pendle Transport was sold to bus rivals Stagecoach.

Since then Stagecoach have abandoned Burnley but new operators Blazefield Holdings have agreed to resurrect the route and run half hourly services for passengers.

The route has already been rubber stamped by Lancashire County Council's highways department after pressure from two councillors.

Whittlefield councillor Alice Thornber and county councillor Marcus Johnstone launched a campaign to reinstate the service and their persistence has now given local residents a ticket to ride.

Coun Johnstone said: "This is excellent news for the people of Ightenhill who have been without a proper bus service for too long.

"The days when pensioners have to trudge all the way over to Padiham Road to catch a bus are over.

"And parents with children at Habergham, Gawthorpe and Ivy Bank schools will also benefit. Their concerns about their children having to walk a comparatively long distance to school during dark mornings and evenings were understandable and the reintroduction will, I'm sure, make life easier for everyone.

Coun Thornber lives in Cumbrian Way, one of the areas left without a service. She said: "People without cars were stranded when the service was withdrawn.

"After all this length of time we have finally got the bus which was taken off us when the old bus service was privatised.

"I was going to organise a petition, but that won't be necessary now because the service has at long last been reinstated."

The new bus service will use the following route: Burnley bus station to Parker Lane to Hargreaves Street to Westway to Pendle Way to Tunnel Street to Ighten Road to Crow Wood Drive to Coverdale Way to Hargrove Avenue to Gawthorpe Road to Keilder Drive to Pendle Way to Wellfield Drive to to Westwood Road to Ighten Road to Ightenhill Park Lane to Lakeland Way to Kiddrow Lane to Sycamore Avenue to Burnley bus station.