Mayor of Ross, Councillor Phil Cutter, said the proposed closure of the 33 service would affect the whole local economy of the area and be detrimental to rural communities on a social level. Speaking at Monday's Ross Town Council meeting, he said: "If the Government decide they want a rural transport policy, they have to provide the buses. We must protect our rural environment. I have an employee who is directly affected by this threatened closure. He lives in Lea and without the bus he would not be able to get to work." Councillor Jenny Hyde said: "We are trying to encourage youngsters to come in and take up employment and apprenticeships in the town. We should push for the peak-time buses. This problem has got to be linked to the threat to village post offices. If people at the Lea lose their Post Office they will have to go to Ross or Gloucester." Councillor Phillip Hague pointed out that the government wanted people to use public transport rather than private cars and that Gloucester provided the nearest mainline railway service. Councillor Derek Bedford said: "Looking back to my childhood, every corporation had a bus service, regardless of profit. The villages which are going to be abandoned will become increasingly isolated. How are people going to get to banks and shops? The green policy is to stop using cars and taxis. We should be looking at this as a public service. What is the point of pensioners having free bus passes if there are no buses. We are told to build affordable houses in villages - it's crackers. Government should be subsidising bus services, a lot of peo