Bishop's Stortford Town Council cash for community buses and Street Pastors

Bishop's Stortford Street Pastors and the town's community bus service shared an end-of-year financial boost of more than £30,000.

The church volunteers patrol on Friday and Saturday nights, between 10pm and 2am, and say their aim is to "care for, listen to and help people who are out and about in our town enjoying the night-time economy, and to make the community a safer place for everyone to enjoy".

The trained pastors "regularly encounter people struggling to get home after a night out, those who have had too much to drink or are under the influence of drugs, those with nowhere to sleep for the night and those who simply want a friendly person to talk to".

The Covid-19 crisis has made it more difficult for the town's churches to fund their work, so after reassurances that the Christian volunteers help all those in need regardless of their faith and do not preach on the streets, the town council awarded a grant of £4,870 towards annual running costs of around £8,000.

The cash will help pay for training, uniforms and equipment including mobile battery packs so vulnerable people can charge their phones. It will also cover half the salary of the group's co-ordinator – its only paid member of staff.

Since returning to patrol in June after lockdown, volunteers have collected over 300 bottles and glasses from the streets of Stortford.

The Bishop's Stortford Community Transport CIO (charitable incorporated organisation) provides three bus services in the town that would not be viable for a commercial operator: the Stortford Shuttle, Saturday Shopper Hopper and Hadham Hopper. It also offers affordable hire of its minibuses to clubs and associations.

The town routes cause particular wear and tear to the vehicles, and the CIO was awarded £27,000 towards the £96,500 cost of a new Mercedes vehicle to replace an increasingly unreliable, converted Ducato which has recurring technical issues.