PLAN to slash bus services in Uttlesford have met with backlash from residents and the district council.
Essex County Council (ECC) has proposed cutting services which connect Saffron Walden to Audley End Station and serve surrounding communities.
Only the 301 and 319 routes would remain under the current plans.
A public consultation drew 690 responses, with 682 residents calling for the services to be retained.
Councillor Martin Foley, who represents Residents for Uttlesford (R4U), said: "Stopping the 320 and 321 bus routes would remove all buses serving Sewards End, Radwinter, Hempstead, and Steeple Bumpstead, and leave these communities without any public transport.
"The consultation on these services drew a huge local response and of the 690 responses, 631 people said that they would be unable to make their journey without these buses.
"Yet these responses have been completely ignored and the consultation appears to have been completely meaningless.
"We are determined to do everything we can to stop this proposed vandalism of our bus services."
Councillor Paul Gadd, also of R4U, criticised the council for disregarding public feedback.
He said: "We have only six bus services connecting Saffron Walden to Audley End Station.
"If Essex have their way, the 59, 590, 320, and 321 services will be destroyed, removing 40 per cent of the buses to the station, including 70 per cent of the commuter services.
"ECC publicly claims to support the expansion and retention of local bus services and only a month ago, ECC announced that it had just received £68m to “support and improve buses in Essex.”
"Instead, one of its first acts is to destroy most of our local bus services."
Essex county councillor Mark Platt, who is responsible for highways, maintenance, and sustainable transport, said: "The council absolutely recognises the importance of local bus services to communities across Essex and this is why we provide support to so many vital services across the county.
"However, we also have a responsibility to ensure we provide value for money to Essex taxpayers.
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"Council-funded bus services are kept under regular review to ensure they are being used and are value for money, which is measured at £5 cost to the taxpayer for each journey made by a passenger.
"Following our bus service consultation, we have made the difficult decision to look at potentially withdrawing nine of the 41 services we currently support. This is because passenger levels are so low that they are not sustainable.
"No final decisions have been made at this stage and a further consultation will take place shortly."
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