Ribble Valley Conservatives welcome the launch of Boris Johnson’s Conservative government’s new National Bus Strategy - the most ambitious shake-up of the bus sector in a generation, which will see lower, simpler flat fares in rural towns and villages, turn-up-and-go services on main routes, and new flexible services.
Backed by £3 billion of investment, the National Bus Strategy will see passengers across England benefiting from more frequent, more reliable, easier to use and understand, better coordinated and cheaper bus services.
The new bus policy will level up services in rural areas in comparison to urban areas across the country that have a surfeit of services. This will encourage more people to use the bus, rather than the car, as we build back better from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Current County Councillor Alan Schofield and Conservative candidate for South West Ribble Valley commented “For many, buses are a lifeline to employment, education, medical appointments and leisure, and are essential to the economy. A duty will be placed on upper tier local authorities like Lancashire County Council to work with bus operators to provide a reliable service. Bus operators won’t be able to remove unilaterally a critical service upon which a large number of passengers are heavily dependent. An example of such a service is the 280 service running along the A59 corridor connecting Skipton, Clitheroe, Barrow, Whalley, Billington, and Preston. One operator sought to reduce the service unilaterally. This service was rescued by a last minute deal with a new operator, a funding package put in place to support the service shared between Lancashire County Council and Ribble Valley Borough Council.”
“The Conservative Councillors at Lancashire County Council are very supportive of bus services for villages such as Mellor, Mellor Brook, Billington, Langho, Hurst Green and wider rural areas including Old Langho, Clayton le Dale, Brockhall Salesbury and Wilpshire. In 2017 when the Conservatives took over the administration of Lancashire County Council we inherited a bus system that needed subsidies. In the LCC budget bus subsidies across the county were increased by 50%, as we promised in the 2017 LCC Conservative election manifesto. Further improvements and extensions were made to tendered services on numerous routes. The previous Labour administration decimated bus services because they don’t believe in subsidising private companies providing them. Such a policy would wipe out all rural bus services in the Ribble Valley and have a massive impact on rural life jobs and businesses ”
Borough Councillor Ged Mirfin County Council candidate for North East Ribble Valley commented ''Under the new system services like the one to Sabden would not have been removed at the time by the then Labour administration. This removal left the village isolated, key workers and students stranded unable to get to work, school or college. Ill and elderly residents were unable to attend hospital or doctor’s appointments. This service was re-introduced by the Conservative administration partly using money from infrastructure contributions as a condition of planning consent put in place by the Ribble Valley Borough Council.
Rupert Swarbrick, the Conservative County Council Candidate in Longridge with Bowland states, ‘Buses in Ribble Valley will be more frequent, cheaper, greener and easier to use as government continues its levelling up agenda. The recovery of retail and hospitality businesses in the key service centres of Clitheroe, Longridge and Whalley depends on residents being able to use buses to come in from surrounding villages.
Buses are lifelines and liberators, connecting people to jobs they couldn’t otherwise take, driving pensioners and young people to see their friends, sustaining town centres and protecting the environment.”
