Rural Bus Services

Debate between Ben Obese-Jecty and Sarah Dyke

Wednesday 11th September 2024 Westminster Hall

[Sarah Dyke]

I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. I could not agree more; it is crucial that local authorities are given the funding they need to provide these essential services. Local authorities are once again currently waiting for further information regarding the future of various sources of funding they receive from central Government. I submitted a written question to the new Government in July regarding the future of the bus service improvement plan and BSIP Phase 2 funds. While the response affirmed a commitment to improving bus services as part of their growth mission, it failed to provide specific details of plans.

Rural areas desperately need to see plans and to have those assurances of how vital services can continue to run. Earlier this week, the Government laid forward a statutory instrument that opened up bus franchising for all local authorities in England. I welcome the Government’s ambition to fix the country’s broken buses, but they must understand that bus services outside urban areas face different problems.

[Ben Obese-Jecty (Huntingdon) (Con)]

Of the 68 settlements in Huntingdon, eight currently do not receive a bus service at all, including Brington, Bythorn, Covington, Holywell, Keyston, Molesworth and Southoe. Does the hon. Member agree that the Government’s proposed introduction of bus franchising must make provision to ensure that those rural communities are included as the new routes are devised?

[Sarah Dyke]

I could not agree more with the hon. Gentleman. Rural bus services need to be given proper funding. They are so crucial to our residents and must be aligned with those urban resources, because there are different problems, as I mentioned.

Rural areas often see low passenger numbers, but those who use the bus services are absolutely reliant on them. The previous Government, in their bus back better plans made a commitment to providing

“guidance on the meaning and role of ‘socially necessary’ services, expanding the category to include ‘economically necessary’ services”.

That did not happen, leaving more uncertainty about the future of the services and failing to provide the protection they need. Will the Minister provide specific guidance on the protection of bus routes for social and environmental reasons?

In my constituency and in other rural areas across the country, there are people for whom bus services are an absolute lifeline. One family from Templecombe told me that their daughter—a single mother who cannot drive due to a medical condition—relies on the 58 bus to take her children to school and college. They rely on the same bus to see their GP in Milborne Port and to get to Wincanton. Thankfully, that route is saved for now, but that one example demonstrates how crucial buses are for those who are reliant on them. That is why, in the last Parliament, I tabled the Public Transport (Rural Areas) Bill, which would have set a minimum service level for the provision of public transport in rural areas, ensuring that people have access to major sites of employment, education and leisure.