THE Upper Wharfedale Venturer is now on the road, providing a lifeline to Upper Wharfedale communities.

The bus was officially launched at Kettlewell Village Hall when well over 100 local people turned out to mark the occasion.

It was officially named by regular bus users and campaigners for the service, Mary Hirst and Murial Raw, and blessed by Rev James Theodosius. Buckden Singers provided their own rendition of The Upper Wharfedale Omnibus, based on the Flanders and Swann song.

The launch was attended by Skipton MP Julian Smith, North Yorkshire County Council chairman Cllr David Jeffels, local County Councillor Shelagh Marshall, North Yorkshire’s executive member for highways Cllr Don Mackenzie, Upper Dales County Councillor John Blackie and Peter Charlesworth and Carl Lis, chairman and deputy chairman of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.

The Upper Wharfedale Bus has been established as a community interest company to maintain a vital public transport connection between upland villages from Grassington to Buckden. The Venturer is run by community volunteers, including 18 voluntary drivers, and North Yorkshire County Council has supplied the bus and a £25,000 annual grant to support the service.

"This is a splendid example of the council working with volunteers in the community," said Cllr Jeffels. “A great deal of hard work has been put into this exciting new project and this new service is going to have enormous benefit to many people living in Wharfedale, because while it is one of the most beautiful parts of the country, its communities are very isolated.

“The communities of Kettlewell and Buckden have come forward with great enthusiasm to provide volunteers drivers and others so that these villages will remain connected and people can continue to access their local services and amenities.”

Mr Smith added: “I would like to pay tribute to all the volunteers and individuals who have made this happen and have put in over 2,000 hours of their time so far.

“This service will make a real difference to those living and working in the local area and is an excellent example of communities working closely with the county council to provide a service which reflects the needs of people living there."

The Venturer replaces the No 72 service between Grassington to Buckden, which had run five times a day by operator Pride of the Dales, but faced the prospect of being run no more than three days a week as a demand-led service because of a reduction in subsidy.

“We knew the county council was facing a 33 per cent cut in its budget and that if we wanted to save the service we would have to come up with a plan,” said Peter Vetch, a technology consultant and a director of the Wharfedale Venturer. “We called on everybody’s expertise in the community, including accounting, PAYE, PR, VAT, e-commerce etc and put a business plan together - and we took it to the county council not knowing what kind of reaction we would get. But they have supported us all the way. They wanted it to work as much as we do and have been right behind us.”

The county council was more than willing to encourage community solutions as it had a number of successful schemes already up and running such as the Nidd Car, a community car scheme which runs from Pateley Bridge, and the Little White Bus run by the Upper Wensleydale Community Partnership which operates scheduled services.

North Yorkshire is one of the few authorities in the country to use its own fleet as a solution to bus subsidy reductions, inviting local communities to put forward volunteer drivers to increase the fleet’s capacity further and to provide demand-responsive and scheduled services in remote areas.

“This is a very proud day for the Upper Wharfedale Venturer and for its local communities” said Cllr Shelagh Marshall. “Keeping local bus services going is vital for communities to stay connected, for people to access services and to prevent isolation.

“People have worked extremely hard, training drivers and putting together a viable business plan to get the Wharfedale Venturer on the road. This is a very good day indeed for the people of Upper Wharfedale and the county council is proud to support such an exciting and innovative project.”

Cllr John Blackie, local member for the Upper Dales, and chairman of the Upper Wensleydale Community Partnership, has provided help and guidance from his own experiences of running The Little White Bus in Wensleydale and Swaledale.

He said: “The more community services we can get on board in North Yorkshire, the easier it will be to keep deeply rural, remote communities mobile into the future. Once local communities get a sense of ownership for such services, like we have with The Little White Bus, like they will with the Wharfedale Venturer, the more likely it is that these services will endure. ”

* The Wharfedale Venturer will run three times a day each way on Monday to Friday during term time starting at 9.40am with a last service at 4.30pm and will run five times a day on Saturdays and during school holidays starting at 8.35am with a last service at 4.50pm.