A “LIFELINE” bus service in Hambledon threatened with the axe, was reprieved by Surrey County Council, when cabinet members signed off plans for the second phase of a three-year review into local services, on Tuesday.

In a change to Haslemere services, however, Hammer Hill estate has lost its link to the No. 59 bus service, due to “very low patronage”.

Proposals for further changes to bus services subsidised by the county council to help plug a £50million hole in its 2016 budget, went out to public consultation earlier this year.

But at this week’s meeting, cabinet member for environment and planning Mike Goodman said the authority had listened to people’s views and kept the buses they really wanted, while saving the council more than £72,000 annually.

Stagecoach’s No. 503 bus, Hambledon’s only bus service, runs three days a week to Godalming and was due to be scrapped as a cost-cutting measure.

The proposal was that local organisations should develop a dial-a-ride service, instead.

The service has been granted a reprieve, but looks set to be reduced from three days to two days a week.

The change of heart follows a strong protest campaign mounted by Hambledon Parish Council and local residents. The parish council argued it was wrong to withdraw the only bus route serving the village, leaving residents without any public transport.

The No. 503 was described as a “lifeline for a number of elderly or infirm residents who rely on the bus to get to shops, supermarkets, banks and surgeries”.

Currently it operates on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays. The service will continue on Wednesdays and Fridays and possibly on a another day to be determined during the detailed planning process.

Also reprieved is the No. 523 bus from Milford Hospital to Guildford, which was due to be withdrawn and also replaced by a volunteers’ dial-a-ride service instead.

Objectors successfully argued the new housing development of more than 120 homes just completed next to Milford Hospital, made the transport link a vital service.

The No. 59 service from Hammer Hill estate to Grayswood, via Woolmer Hill and High Lane estate, has been axed – but other bus services have been extended to cover all its route apart from the Hammer Hill estate.

Surrey decided insufficient passengers travelled to and from the estate area to justify continuing to subsidise that section of the route.

In place of the No. 59, the No. 19 service will be extended to serve High Lane estate and the No. 70 service will be extended to serve Woolmer Hill.

The link on schooldays from High Lane to Woolmer Hill School will also continue.

In further changes to Haslemere services, the No. 70 bus from Guildford to Midhurst, will continue to serve Shottermill and be extended to the Woolmer Hill area.

Its route will be shortened, however, and the No. 71 from Guildford to Shottermill will be extended to Midhurst via Fernhurst, instead.