Bus Funding

Josh Babarinde Excerpts

Monday 18th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Louise Haigh]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for standing up, for Portsmouth and its people, as she always does. Today’s funding settlement will be ringfenced towards buses to ensure that Portsmouth gets both the level of funding it needs and, crucially, the flexibility and control to deliver it where it is needed most. Portsmouth will be able to avail itself of the powers we will announce in the coming weeks to take back control of its bus services and to deliver routes, services and fare levels that are right for the people of Portsmouth.

[Josh Babarinde (Eastbourne) (LD)]

A few hours ago, I marched with Eastbourne residents such as Jodie Atherton, and Eastbourne businesses such as DB Domestics and the Rosy Lee café in Seaside, against Conservative-run East Sussex county council’s car-crash bus service improvement plan, after the council failed to adequately consult residents or properly model the impact of the plan. Will the Secretary of State review East Sussex county council’s catalogue of failure in this area, and will she introduce safeguards to ensure that community voices are at the heart of any bus service improvement plan that the money she has announced today will fund in my patch of Eastbourne?

[Louise Haigh]

The hon. Gentleman raises some important points. It is right that local people have the mechanisms and ability to hold their local authorities to account. One such mechanism that we will introduce through the better buses Bill is a local network safeguard, which will ensure that the voices of communities and constituents are at the heart of any changes to local bus networks.