A CORNWALL councillor was this week battling to secure a reduction in bus fares in the Calstock and Callington areas after it emerged that the area’s 79 route to Tavistock had been left out of a countywide slashing of fares.

Andrew Long, who represents Callington and St Dominic on Cornwall Council, is furious that this service and others in the Callington area have been left out of lower fares introduced across Cornwall last Sunday (April 10).

He has been told by Cornwall Council that the average one third reduction in fares does not apply to the 79 service between Callington and Tavistock because it is partly in Devon.

The snub came on the same day the 79 service between Callington to Tavistock via Calstock, St Ann’s Chapel and Gunnislake was halved.

The reduced service came in on Sunday, despite a petition of 200 signatures of people in Gunnislake protesting at the change. It is now running only every two hours.

Cllr Long said reducing fares in one area of the county and not another was ‘discriminatory’.

‘This means the levelling up agenda pronounced by the Government will not benefit thousands of East Cornwall residents once again,’ he said.

‘The bus routes such as the 79 from Callington to Tavistock, the 12 from Bude, Launceston and Callington into Plymouth, and the 71 from Liskeard to Derriford Hospital will not count for the discounted fares. This means that once again, people in south east Cornwall who have no choice but to access services across the border will be treated as second class citizens as far as the Government and Cornwall Council are concerned.

‘Given the special circumstances, that east Cornwall does not have its own accident and emergency department the council surely need to rethink this and ensure that the thousands of people who live along the border get treated equally,’ he added.

Cllr Long raised the matter at a full meeting of Cornwall Council on Tuesday morning, where he had support from fellow south east Cornwall councillors.

He said Cornwall Council’s Portfolio Holder for Transport, Philip Desmonde, had written to him to confirm that the grant and discount would only cover routes entirely within Cornwall’s boundaries.

Cllr Desmonde has been approached by the Times for a comment.