WILTSHIRE County Council has said that it is prepared to do a U-turn after residents in Eastcourt expressed outrage at the loss of their bus service.

Last week, the Gazette reported that villagers had been furious when the council suddenly stopped the number 93 Malmesbury to Cirencester bus service from travelling through Eastcourt last month. It had stopped at the village seven times a day.

Number 93's new route through Chelworth, where it stops seven times a day, is on a three-month trial after a petition by youngsters and a survey conducted by the county council revealed a greater demand there.

Now the chairman of the county council and councillor for Minety, Carole Soden, has said the county council has limited funds but she understands there might be a demand for the Malmesbury to Cirencester bus to call once or twice a week at Eastcourt.

"If there was the money of course we would like to have a regular service to Eastcourt. We would like to help the people of Eastcourt if we can," she said.

"If they write to county hall and if there are requests for a bus once or twice a week, we will look at it after the three-month trial period."

But she refuted villagers' complaints that there was little warning of the bus' cancellation.

She said: "There were only three people using the bus and one person was using the mobile library. Over the last three years we have been asking for views, contacted everyone we could and conducted a survey. Nothing came back from Eastcourt and a lot from Chelworth."

The loss of the bus was a double blow for Eastcourt, which lost the mobile library service last month.

Anyone travelling from the village to Malmesbury now faces a two-hour trip by bus via Wootton Bassett.

Villagers said they realised they had a fantastic service but were annoyed it had been completely cancelled.

But there has been a cautious welcome to the news. Parish councillor Gordon Barrett, said: "I am not hopeful the bus will be back."

To write to the county council with your views, contact Ian White, Passenger Transport Group Manager, Wiltshire County Council, County Hall, Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England, BA14 8JN.