CAMPAIGNERS who battled to save a bus service for Ockbrook, Borrowash and Spondon are delighted after being told the route will still operate.

But their celebrations have been muted by news that buses are likely to be less regular than they currently are.

Doubt was cast over the future of the number 9 bus, run by Littles Travel, after Derby City Council withdrew its annual £15,000 funding for the service in September last year.

This left Derbyshire County Council to foot the whole bill and keep the route running.

Now the authority has said that the current number 9 service will be stopped as it cannot afford to keep up with the cost.

But a spokeswoman said that from March 26, the Littles service would be replaced by two new routes, 9 and 9A, run by the Notts & Derby bus company, "subject to (county council) cabinet approval".

She said: "The new services would maintain public transport links for local people in Ockbrook and Borrowash, including an hourly service into Derby."

The spokeswoman said she could not say how much the county council would spend to subsidise this service for commercial reasons.

But the new timetable has already been made available online.

Helen Clark, chairman of Erewash Labour Local Government Committee, was among those behind a petition calling for the original number 9 bus to be retained. More than 800 people signed the document.

Mrs Clark said the latest news meant the petition had been a "qualified success" as, for example, there would now be a bus between Ockbrook and Borrowash only once every two hours instead of every one.

She said a proposed last bus from Derby to the villages, leaving at 6.05pm from Monday to Saturday, was also disappointing as it currently goes at 7.05pm.

Mrs Clark said: "My view is that, if the people in the area hadn't campaigned so doggedly, the service would have gone completely."

Jeff Martin, 54, of Prior Way, Borrowash, was among those who took part in the petition and said those involved "should be proud of themselves".

But he added: "If you go to the shops or hairdressers in Borrowash from Ockbrook and you miss the bus a few minutes you are going to have to wait two hours for the next one.

"I think some people may end up taking taxis."

Deborah Swinhoe, who runs Deb 'N' Hair hairdressers in Borrowash, said she was pleased at the news but believed the cost difference between running an hourly and two-hourly service should be surmountable.

She said: "There's no shops in Ockbrook and people use the bus to get to the schools and doctors in Spondon, so it's a very important route."

Stuart Frost, manager of Notts & Derby, said the 7.05pm bus "is used by only the odd passenger anyway".

He added that people in Derby's Albert Road estate would benefit from the changed timetable.

Mr Frost said: "They will have a bus every hour, instead of two in the morning and two in the afternoon, and they will also get a bus on Saturdays, which they never had before, and a link to Borrowash and Ockbrook."