A CALLINGTON councillor has welcomed a decision by a bus company to launch a new service in April that will serve a small East Cornwall village which has been without adequate public transport for several months.

Callington town and Cornwall councillor for Callington Andrew Long welcomed the decision by Go Cornwall Bus — a subsidiary of Plymouth Citybus — to launch a new bus service that will link St Dominick and Stoke Climsland via Callington, providing a much needed connection to the town from the two outlying villages.

Residents in St Dominick found themselves with just one service each way a day, at 'inconvenient' times towards the end of last year, following changes to its regular service due to cutbacks.

The new Cornish bus company decided to step in after First decided to withdraw all but one service each way in 2014.

Cllr Long, who has been heavily involved in campaigning to get a decent bus service to St Dominick, said: 'We at Cornwall Council have worked with Go Cornwall Bus for a number of weeks to see what can be achieved and I am really pleased that this new service will enable the people of these two villages to get access to the town and through that, the wider bus network, including the rail link to Gunnislake and Liskeard.

'The buses from Citybus have been a refreshing change for this part of Cornwall and their services across the villages of South East Cornwall provide a vital link to services for some of the most vulnerable in our society.'

Speaking after the announcement, com-mercial and marketing manager for Plymouth Citybus Mark Collins said: 'After various meetings and having listened to the residents of St Dominick, we have managed to work closely with Cornwall Council to schedule resources into the village during the day, linking St Dominick with Callington.

'The new service, Number 78, will start on April 13.

'Having spoken to local councillors and attending parish meetings, it was clear to see the need for a day time link to the village after cuts last year. We hope the service will be used by locals to enable its long term provision.'

The new service is one of a number of minor changes the Go Cornwall Bus is making to the routes it took over from Western Greyhound. New timetables are due to be available online shortly.