CALLS are being made to bring an airport bus service to Halstead in what would be a “great addition” to the community.

Halstead Town Council is pushing to try and see the Stansted bus service from Colchester or Braintree to come to the town.

Essex bus operator First Bus launched its new X20 airport service last summer, which links Colchester and Braintree with the airport.

The hourly service covers a wide range of stops from the heart of Colchester, through Lexden and onto Marks Tey, calling at Coggeshall and Bradwell. The route then provides a quick link to Stansted from Braintree and Dunmow.

However, there is no service that runs to the airport from Halstead.

Halstead Town Council said it feels Essex County Council should make “every effort to ensure that Halstead is served by the airport bus service”.

Town mayor and councillor Andy Munday said: “There is a bus that runs from Colchester or Braintree to Stansted but as far as we’re aware there’s no standard bus from Halstead.

“Since we’re one of the districts three major towns it would be good to have that route to Stansted.

“It would help a lot of people with holiday plans and it’s something we should be having as standard.

“There’s no plan on how that will be made possible because it’s down to transport companies to change the routes, but it’s something that Halstead Town Council would dearly like to happen for the community.

“When you consider a standard taxi is £35+, not a lot of people can afford that so it would be a great addition for our community”

A spokesman for First Bus East of England said: “We regularly review our network to see where improvements can be made, and we take into consideration feedback from customers, the public and local authorities, as well as our own data and whether there is sufficient demand to make the change viable.

“We are aware of a request for the X20 to serve Halstead, and it will be examined as part of our regular network review process.

“However, it is impossible for us to introduce every suggestion made.”