Rebecca Connop Price reports

BUS services in the Star area will be cut after county bosses launched a bid to balance their budget.
Hampshire County Council is now looking to cut the numbers 1, 2 and 3 Aldershot to Farnborough and Camberley to Yateley buses after 7.15pm on weekdays and on Sundays. The buses are run by Stagecoach and are subsidised by the county.
The county estimates the move will affect nine passengers and save the county £6,900 a year.
Transport bosses also plan to cut the county’s subsidy for the number 18 Aldershot to Haslemere service, also run by Stagecoach.
The move, which would see the weekday evening and Sunday service cut, could save the county a total of  £36,731.
Service cuts to a number of subsidised bus routes across the county are being proposed as the authority attempts to meet the increasing cost of providing adult social care to an ageing and increasingly frail population.
It was decided to reduce the bus subsidy budget by £500,000 over two years in the county council budget last February.
The county had overspent £21 million in its adult social care budget. Through cutting spending in other departments, the county has reduced its overspend to £7.5 million.
Coun Mel Kendal, executive member for environment, said: “The bottom line – as outlined in the leader’s budget speech in February – is the continued need to put our money where the need is greatest.  Reducing a £6 million budget by £500,000 is a challenge.
“We have examined all areas of the budget and decided to concentrate on those services least likely to affect people’s essential journeys so that the vast majority of passengers are unaffected.  Services that can be used by any member of the public, but are specifically designed for school pupils, are unaffected by the proposals.”
Mike Roberts, a Rushmoor councillor who used to be a county councillor, has hit out at the service cuts.
He said there are a lot of concerns about whether the county’s priorities are right.
He said: “Priorities should be on service provision and obtaining capital funding that does something about this.”