From left, bus manager George Brown, Carolyn Beale and Philip Tissington (30541)A DOOR-TO-DOOR bus service could be launched in Melksham this summer to help more people get to the shops.

Questionnaires are being distributed throughout Melksham and surrounding villages to test whether there is a demand for a shopper bus service to Melksham and Devizes town centres.

Melksham 1st has teamed up with Melksham Council of Community Service to run the shopper service, with £3,800 already raised in grants from Community 1st and other sources. More funding is being sought.

The minibus, which belongs to the MCCS, would operate on a booking system providing a return service from Melksham's outer estates and villages, including Atworth, Shaw and Broughton Gifford.

Organisers hope to run a service into Melksham on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and into Devizes on Thursdays from July.

Carolyn Beale, of Melksham 1st, said the service was mostly aimed at people with physical or mental disabilities, who find it hard to get to the shops, but was open to everyone.m

"It will be a very flexible and personal service," she said. "If someone is frail the driver will carry their shopping in to their house.

"The advantage will be that socially excluded people on the outskirts of the town or in the villages will have an additional service, apart from public transport.

"We will hopefully buy a new bus in the future if it proves to be successful. All we are raising at the moment is money for the consultation and as a back up, to pay the driver."

Rolf Brindle, of Melksham 1st transport sub group, said: "According to the last population census over half the people living in Melksham community area potentially have a problem getting to essential facilities like shops.

"The new minibus services will help these people do their shopping and will also provide a boost to local shopkeepers."

Users of the service will be charged a flat rate for a return trip, depending on which village or estate they are travelling in from. Prices have not been set, with organisers waiting to gauge the demand first.

Questionnaires have been posted out with parish newsletters and are available from the tourist information centre, in Church Street; post offices in Whitley, Bowerhill and Atworth; Forest Road shop or Nortree Motors in Beanacre.

They can be returned to Melksham 1st by freepost or dropped off in collection boxes at the locations listed above.