Rode Parish Council will fight to save the village bus service from being axed when it meets First Bus UK today.

Villagers learned last week that from April 13 the 267 bus, from Bath to Frome, will no longer visit Rode, but go straight down the A36 between Woolverton and Beckington.

Service 234 will provide an alternative for people in Rode to travel to and from Frome, but travel directly to and from Bath will be lost.

First Bus said the changes were being made because the demand for services in Rode was low and the alteration allowed for the overall journey time to be reduced, making the service more appealing to others using it.

Rode Parish Council chairman Steve Eyles said: “It is our objective to get it reinstated. We have over 1,000 residents in the village and the bus is a major link for people getting to Bath hospital.

“We have quite an aging population in Rode and the link to the hospital is vital.

“Rode does not have a doctor’s surgery and people in the village travel to Beckington’s surgery. The service is vital for medical reasons.”

Students travelling to and from Bath College and Frome College will also be affected, along with people employed in the village’s businesses who rely on the bus to get them to work.

Mr Eyles added: “The Government policy is to help the environment by using public transport. This flies in the face of that.

“If it doesn’t get resolved we will take necessary action to get it in service. We won’t be resting on our laurels. It is our intention to fight for our village.”

Simon Ford, commercial manager for First in the West of England, has said: “This change is being made to cut the overall journey time and because passenger numbers in Rode are very low.”