Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce is backing calls from a major Stafford employer to reinstate a bus service between the town’s railway station and Staffordshire Technology Park.
Olly Ragg, co-founder and chief executive of TopCashback, told Daily Focus that when the firm moved from Uttoxeter to the technology park about a decade ago, a bus service connected the park with the station and town centre. The route was cut soon after the move, and the company now subsidises taxis for 11 members of its 200-strong workforce.
A recent informal staff poll suggested around 10 per cent of TopCashback’s employees would use a reinstated service.
Olly, pictured above, said: “The Technology Park was quite empty when we moved in – which may have been why the bus service was stopped – but it’s pretty busy now. There is also Beacon Business Park a couple of minutes away, so there are potentially a lot of people who could benefit from this.
“It’s important to us as an employer that it is easy for people to get in and out of our office. We’ll never know how many people would have chosen to work here if the bus service had continued operating.”
Chambers policy adviser Declan Riddell wrote to Stafford MP Leigh Ingham and Sir Gavin Williamson, whose Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge constituency includes the technology park, asking them to support the call.
He wrote: “The reinstatement of a bus service would open up the opportunity to recruit further afield and source from a wider pool talent, knowing that a direct and regular bus service could improve access to and from the workplace. It will also lead to a far smoother and greener journey for Stafford residents who work there.
“A reliable and frequent bus service would encourage more of us to leave cars at home and use public transport to get to and from work. That eastern corridor of Stafford (Weston Road, County Hospital, Beaconside) suffers from severe congestion at peak times of the working week and a bus service can play a pivotal role in reducing that congestion.”
Leigh Ingham has now written to Staffordshire County Council on the issue and Sir Gavin Williamson has confirmed he will also be making contact with the authority.
Daily Focus has approached the county council for a comment.
