FREE bus travel throughout the Bromsgrove district will be just the ticket for older Wythall residents.

Bromsgrove councillors decided at a special meeting last Tuesday to stump up enough money to enable free travel for senior citizens on bus journeys beginning and ending in the district but extending to other areas, including Wythall.

The council's new scheme enables those who have traditionally shopped in centres outside the district, to choose an alternative concession which gives free travel in their area and beyond the boundary, to such areas as Northfield, Kings Heath and Solihull.

Council leader, Dennis Norton said: "I'm delighted Bromsgrove Council has been able to manage its finances so well that we have been able to deliver this very substantial improvement to help the older members of the community.

"These changes put Bromsgrove into the forefront and for the first time we have been able to provide truly free bus travel for those who find the cost of travel for day-to-day needs prohibitive."

The free bus travel will take effect from October.