The Countryside Matters, was the theme of a panel discussion at the Better Transport Conference taking place last week at Kings College, London. 

Our Chief Executive Kerry Booth was part of this panel and she posed this question back to the audience, questioning the focus on rural transport by Government in recent years in a landscape of reducing public transport, competitive bidding for funding and a lack of cohesive national transport plan for rural communities.

In a session chaired by Silviya Barrett, Director of Policy and Campaigns at Campaign for Better Transport, Kerry spoke alongside Dr Maya Singer Hobbs, of the Institute for Public Policy Research, Claire Walters, Chief Executive of Bus Users UK and Brad Taylor, Rural Policy and Campaigns Officer of the CPRE.

It was a lively discussion focusing on numerous issues including the challenges rural communities face accessing transport, lack of funding for rural transport options and the implications for rural residents who may find accessing public transport where it is available, challenging.

The event was the culmination of Better Transport week, supported by the Campaign for Better Transport.

The manifesto asks of the Campaign for Better Transport are available here

The Rural Services Network has set out a number of asks of the political parties ahead of the General Election in their Winning the Rural Vote Campaign.

In relation to transport, we are asking for: 

Calls for first 18 months in office:

• Deliver an evidence-based Future of Rural Mobility Strategy that acknowledges that buses are essential infrastructure and places a duty on (and allocates funding to) Local Authorities to determine their local need for socially necessary rural buses.
• Protect Community transport by creating a larger funding pot which is sustained over a longer period. It should promote the use of community transport schemes which serve outlying settlements and feed into bus or rail routes.
• Ensure funding for the Rural Fuel Duty Relief Scheme and the Rural Mobility Fund (without a bidding process) to deliver equality of access. Ensure local authorities are fairly funded to maintain vital rural road infrastructure.

Calls for first 3 years in office:

• Address the gaps in the National Bus Strategy by producing a Rural Bus Strategy, objectives for rural provision, with funded actions to better serve rural communities and their economic needs on a sustainable basis.
• Develop and strengthen the power of Local Authorities to deliver these services by ensuring predominantly rural Local Authorities regain and sustain their ability to offer necessary revenue support.
• Create a greener future by undertaking a comprehensive review of the electric grid and, where appropriate, hydrogen supply, to address the risk that the high costs of introducing electric or hydrogen buses and their fuelling facilities could prove problematic in rural areas.

You can read more about the Winning the Rural Vote campaign at this link