Over 1200 local residents in the Lune Valley who will be affected by Lancashire County Council’s proposal to cut 72 evening bus and weekend services across the County have signed a petition opposing the plans.
The petition will be presented to County Councillor Susie Charles at a public meeting at Caton Victoria Institute at 7.00pm on Monday 3rd February, and the proposals to cut bus services will be discussed at a County Council meeting to agree the county’s budget on 20th February.
While this petition is aimed at users of buses in the Lune Valley, the proposals – part of the County Council’s plan to cope with £300 million in funding cuts by central government – have been met with fierce opposition.
As we previously reported, the Labour-run County Council says the proposed cuts will save £3.8m over the
next two years by withdrawing subsidies which enable the services to
operate – but the cuts will affect most of the villages and
outlying council estates in the Lancaster area.
Campaigners argue the plan is a false economy which will unfairly hit the 15% of rural dwellers in the County without access to a car, such as night workers and both elderly and young bus users alike.
Bus services to Freehold, the Ridge the Marsh and Vale
estates in Lancaster and Skerton, Heysham, Morecambe, Carnforth, Hest
Bank Railway Station, Bolton-le-Sands
and Overton are among those that would be lost if the plan goes ahead.
Labour councillors argue they have no choice but to make the cuts (and prospective parliamentary candidate Amina Lone has set up her own petitions to protest at them to local MPs Eric Ollerenshaw and David Morris).
Opponents of the Council’s cuts plan argue the entire system of bus subsidy is flawed and in part, the bus companies could be seen as being unaccountable for the services they run.
“[Stagecoach] have been cherry picking routes for years,” argues Simon Williams, “Pricing people off the rural
routes and also estate ones. They have no competions hence can charge
what they like. I’ve been to many other areas and local buses there are much
better… and cheaper.”
Others point to the plans of other councils such as Tyne & Wear and Hertfordshire, who are planning to put their bus services out to competitive tender and shake up the whole process by which bus services are run.
“Many people are saying what a big impact these cuts will have on people’s ability to get to
work as well as have the freedom to go out if they don’t own a car,” says campaigner Ursula Gallie, who set up the Lune Valley petition and has appeared on local TV to talk about the issue. “The
hardest hit will be the elderly, the young and those who can’t afford
to run a car.”
“The
proposed cuts would result in no evening and Sunday bus services
through the Lune Valley,” argues local resident Paul Thurston. “This would have terrible consequences for our
villages. It will isolate those in our community without cars and result
in even more traffic congestion in Lancaster’s already clogged up
traffic system.”
“I use the bus to get to work,” says care worker Fariha Quraishi. “Without this service I couldn’t work yet there was nothing on the bus to
say this was happening. I cannot be the only person who will be out of
a job.”
“Eric Pickles, David
Morris and this Tory Government have imposed a 40% cut of over £300
million on our local council,” counters Amina Lone, who is asking the Government to reverse its funding cuts. “The local council, faced with impossible
choices between transport, social care, education and the environment
have nowhere to turn and now vital transport services to rural
communities are at risk.”
Four-fifths of bus services in Lancashire are run by private companies
such as Stagecoach on a commercial basis because they are profitable.
The remaining 20 per cent
are not commercially viable and are currently subsidised by some £8
million annually by the county council. The proposal suggests that
subsides be withdrawn from 72 evening and Sunday services from 18th May
2014, but would continue to 103 bus services which operate during the
day.
However, each subsidy would be reviewed on a case by case basis when its current
contract expires to ensure it remains sustainable.
Any withdrawals will take place during the middle of 2014 so for the
meantime all these services are continuing to run as normal.
• Save Lune Valley Buses Petition
• Save Lune Valley Buses Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/saveLuneVillagerbuses
• Morecambe Labour PPC Amina Lone has launched a petition to Protect local Bus Services to Rural Communities | http://www.change.org/en-GB/
See Also:
• virtual-lancaster: Campaign to save local night buses as fury mounts over Labour-led County Council’s bus cut plans
• Lancaster Guardian article: “I’ll be trapped in my home”
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