COUNTY councillors have voted to band together and "fight" Cross Country over controversial proposals to axe four long-distance trains servicing the town’s station.

The train operator plans to cut services from Bromsgrove to Cardiff, Nottingham and Stansted, but campaigners say the move will undo improvements at the £24m site.

As previously reported by the Advertiser, Bromsgrove District Council agreed a motion at the end of last year to write a letter of protest to Cross Country objecting the proposed cuts.

And now concerned Worcestershire County Council members have voted to send their own letter of complaint to Cross Country, promising "not to hold back" in their demands.

Speaking during a meeting at County Hall on January 12, Councillor Chris Bloore said: "We have just spent £24m on the Bromsgrove Railway Station. We are all very proud of it.

"We have invested such a huge amount of money into this station, we should be asking for a superior service, not an inferior service.

"We all know what happens when you don't fight for services. You lose it, and it doesn't come back.

"It’s very important to say we value those services and we want them to stay."

Councillor Luke Mallett added: "This is a key piece of strategic railway - this is the only place that Bristol to Birmingham onto Cardiff onto Nottingham service stops in Worcestershire.

"I would urge us not to hold back in our letter to Cross Country to be absolutely unmitigatedly clear about the importance of this link stopping at Bromsgrove."

Councillors fear services at other stations in the county, such as the new Worcestershire Parkway set to open in 2018, could be damaged if they don’t make a stand at Bromsgrove.

Councillor Graham Vickery, urging all parties to unite, added: "This issue provides us with a glorious opportunity to stop fighting each other, band together and fight somebody else.

"What we've got to do is impress upon these train operating companies the importance not just of long-distance routes in the county, but improve links within Worcestershire."

County councillors agreed to back a motion asking the leader Councillor Simon Geraghty and chief executive Clare Marchant to write to train operators, calling for "the optimal service for all current and potential rail users, particularly Bromsgrove".

Bosses at Cross Country say the cuts would result in "better use of all our available trains, concentrating long distance services on the core network where demand is highest".