Campaign update
Long-term funding is needed for rural bus services. Photo: © CPRE
Bus grant cuts threaten rural buses
Fears are growing that support for buses will be cut in the 2010 Spending Review. This would have a devasting impact on rural areas. We have joined a wide range of organisations to call for services to be saved.
> Let's protect vital bus services - Campaign for Better Transport
Rural public transport – room for improvement
Reforms to bus subsidies could favour urban areas while creating new bureaucracy that would hit smaller operators, such as those in remote rural areas, the hardest. Moves to a 'per passenger payment' from the current mileage based Bus Subsidy Operators' Grant would benefit urban bus services at the cost of rural ones, which operate over longer distances. The tendency to provide 'kickstart' as opposed to long-term funding means that the plug is often pulled on innovative rural bus services just as they find their feet.
We have been campaigning for more funding for rural buses and for new types of services such as taxibuses to be on a level playing field with conventional ones. Our report The Rural Thoroughbred – Buses in the Countryside showed the need for joined up planning and joined up funding through an integrated Rural Transport Fund. More recently, CPRE West Midlands has produced a leaflet and report on the challenges facing rural transport in their region.
CPRE West Midland website – publications:
> Cause for concern: Improving rural accessibility in the rural West Midlands (1.8MB PDF)
> Rural public transport: Room for improvement (994K PDF)
Keeping rural lanes ruralWe helped to make rural roads quieter and more enjoyable through our campaign to create Quite Lanes. This special designation, now part of the Transport Act 2000 means motorists have to give special attention to walkers, cyclists, herders and horse riders, and facilitates highway authorities to lower speeds.
Quiet lanes encourage people to access schools and local shops on foot or bike rather than by car, thus combating rural traffic and congestion. Quiet lanes work best when created as a network in an area, joining the gaps between Rights of Way to create safe routes to villages and circular leisure routes. You can read more about this in our publication CPRE's Guide to Quiet Lanes.
> CPRE’s Guide to Quiet Lanes (566K PDF)
Save lanes from lorries
Lorries that use rural roads as short cuts or to avoid heavier traffic elsewhere break rural tranquillity, causing noise and pollution, as well as increasing road danger. We have produced a checklist, Losing Lanes to Lorries, which shows you how to campaign against this problem.
A new threat is the proposal to force Britain to accept Longer Heavier Vehicles from continental Europe. These 'Mega Trucks', known as 'Eco-combis' to their promoters, are up to 25 metres long and weigh up to 60 tonnes. We have joined the European campaign to halt them.
> No Mega Trucks website
One of the greatest causes of increased freight movements on our roads is food. Our Making Local Food Work project shows how you can support local producers through your shopping as well as reducing the pressure on local roads from longer distance lorries.
> Making Local Food Work website: Information on food mapping
