Hambledon Parish Council has agreed a one-off grant of £250 following a request for financial support by Waverley Hoppa Community Transport.

The Hoppa minibuses are a familiar sight on local roads, providing transport for those unable to use scheduled public services. Hoppa’s fleet of vehicles offer accessible, door-to-door community transport for registered local people as well as hospital-related services.

However, Hoppa cannot survive on its revenue alone and requires the additional support of grant funding.

With its fleet of vehicles due for replacement, Hoppa has appealed for financial assistance.

In Hambledon we have a “good neighbour” scheme which can usually help the elderly and infirm keep medical appointments and collect prescriptions. However, our scheduled bus service runs on just three days of the week and is loss-making.

The parish council considered that Hoppa provides a valuable service in rural communities such as ours and would become even more important to Hambledon if the village lost its bus service.

It agreed to provide a grant of £250 to help Hoppa maintain its non-emergency patient hospital service to local health facilities.

If you would like to find out more about Hoppa’s service please click http://www.hoppa.org.uk/