A new bus is unable to stop in one village it passes through because it is on the wrong side of a council boundary.

The new WESTlocal 99 Chew Valley Cat launched at the start of September, running in a figure of eight around the corner of North East Somerset which had been — until recently — cut off from all public transport. The "revolutionary" new bus has reconnected villages like West Harptree,Chew Magna, and Chew Stoke — but not Chewton Mendip.

Asked at a meeting of the West of England Combined Authority committee why the bus could not stop to pick up or drop off passengers in the village — despite driving past its bus stop — West of England Metro Mayor Dan Norris said it would be "slightly difficult" to arrange as it lay outside the West of England. The bus is part of the combined authority's WESTlocal scheme, which funds local communities to set up not-for-profit bus routes.

People in the valley have welcomed the new bus. Only last year, the valley was left without any timetabled public transport after all buses serving the area were axed in a wave of bus cuts that hit most of rural North East Somerset. In April, the WESTlocal X91 Chew Valley Sprint was set up under the scheme, running once a day between several villages in the valley to Bristol and back.

Now the bus has been expanded to cover more villages and run three times a day in each direction, and the Chew Valley Cat has been launched to connected villages in the Chew Valley to Paulton and more bus stops on the A37. The buses have been called "revolutionary" by Jackie Head of the Chew Valley's the local sustainable travel group, who said: "We have never had this kind of service in the Chew Valley before."

But, at the committee meeting on September 20, she urged Mr Norris to allow the bus to stop in Chewton Mendip. She said: "The bus passes through Chewton Mendip. It has to because the roads in the middle of the valley can't cope with the bus. Please will you let us stop there. Please will you let us pick people up there.

"We know its in Somerset. We know Somerset is not what you prioritise. But we are passing through it for goodness' sake. Please let us stop there."

The West of England Combined Authority includes Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and could soon include North Somerset too. But Somerset Council is not a member of the combined authority and Chewton Mendip lies just across its border.

Mr Norris said: "This whole thing is new and innovative but part of that is about learning. […] I think it is getting the positive outcomes we hoped for but there is still a lot to do."

He added: "We want to cooperate and liaise about how we might do things better wherever you live in the West of England. And maybe we can get an arrangement where its just slightly outside as well but that is slightly difficult because obviously I represent people in the West of England, I don't represent people outside.

"But where there's a will there's a way, Jackie. So who knows we might get there."

As well as being the West of England Metro Mayor, Mr Norris has also been the MP for North East Somerset and Hanham — which includes the Chew Valley — since the 2024 general election. Mr Norris said after the election that he would do both jobs until the next Metro Mayor election in May 2025, but new Labour rules against MPs having second jobs may mean he cannot run for re-election.