Malvern’s MP is calling for the return of a bus route that connects the north of the town to Worcester.

Harriet Baldwin, the MP for West Worcestershire, says residents want the old X43 service back.

She has supported a petition calling for Worcestershire County Council to reinstate the X43 bus service connecting north Malvern to Worcester.

The council was recently awarded £3.4 million to improve local bus service provision.

The service ran between 2005 and 2018 but was gradually amended until it was finally withdrawn in March 2020.

Mrs Baldwin said: “People living in the north of Malvern feel that they are being let down by the local bus services.

“I’ve spoken to First Bus about increasing the frequency of the 44 service between Malvern and Worcester, but I’m now getting a clear message that residents would like to see the old X43 service brought back.

“I’ve also raised my concerns directly with Councillor Mike Rouse, who is responsible for delivering the bus service improvements and I will be sharing the petition with him to show what strength of feeling there is for this proposal.

“The county council has a substantial sum of money specifically intended for this purpose, so I am calling on local people to speak up and help us to make the case for this improvement.”

The petition can be found at https://chng.it/TwtDR2kwrn.

A spokesperson for Worcestershire County Council said: “We are carrying out a wider network review, to determine how we allocate the funding we were recently awarded to improve bus services.

“As part of this process, we are working closely with bus operators, including First who originally ran the X43 service.”

It was announced in October that £3.4 million of money previously earmarked for the northern leg of the HS2 project would be invested in Worcestershire bus services.

Worcester MP Robin Walker said the funding would be “transformational” for the county’s buses.