£3bn strategy just the ticket says bus boss
TRENTBARTON has welcomed the new £3bn National Bus Strategy which was announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday.
The Government’s huge cash injection will see new zero-emissions buses, more bus lanes across the country and extra services on evenings and weekends.
Contactless payment and the ability to buy tickets across public transport links are also being introduced.
Trentbarton managing director Jeff Counsell said: “The new strategy creates a once-in-a-generation opportunity for us to continue working closely with local authorities and stakeholders to provide faster, more reliable journey times and transform services to provide even greater value for money for our customers.
“Many of the measures being put in place nationally through this strategy are innovations we have already pioneered here in the East Midlands, including fare caps, contactless payment, 24/7 services, real-time information, and improved integration and connectivity.
“The new national strategy provides the stimulus for us to kick on again. We will be looking to use the legislative support contained within the strategy to continue to improve our services for our customers whilst also making them even safer and greener in the months and years ahead.”
Local councils are also being encouraged to work with trentbarton as part of the scheme, according to the Department of Transport. They want councils to help deliver ‘turn up and go’ services, which is an area Jeff says trentbarton are already working with councils in.
He said: “We will double down on these enhanced partnerships, encouraged by the National Bus Strategy to be increasingly ambitious in how such collaboration can benefit the public, reduce congestion, improve air quality and cut journey times.”
SEVEN men have been charged with drug offences after warrants were carried out in Derby and Lancashire.
They were executed at seven addresses across Derby on Tuesday, with officers arresting six men.
Also found at the addresses were significant quantities of what is believed to be heroin and cocaine – along with substantial amounts of cash.
Warrants were also executed at two further addresses in Blackburn and Accrington in Lancashire where another man was arrested.
The following men appeared at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court charged with the following offences:
Hassan Mahmood, 19, of Uttoxeter New Road, Derby. Charged with conspiring to supply cocaine and remanded to prison.
Haleem Ahmed, 20, of Society
Place, Derby. Charged with conspiring to supply cocaine and remanded to prison.
Raishad Khan, 27, of Cheltenham Road, Blackburn. Charged with conspiring to supply cocaine and remanded to prison.
Salik Raja, 35, of Porter Road, Derby. Charged with conspiring to supply cocaine and possession with intent to supply heroin. Remanded.
Saqib Raja, 26, of no-fixed abode.
Charged with conspiring to supply cocaine and possession with intent to supply heroin and remanded to prison.
George Borzykh, 20, of Chartley Road, Derby. Charged with conspiring to supply cocaine and released on conditional bail.
Shah Anas, 20, of Mill Hill Road, Derby. Charged with conspiring to supply cocaine and released on conditional bail.
A DERBYSHIRE artist has created a moving record of the coronavirus pandemic by serialising the ups and downs in a set of 180 paintings.
Sue Prince, of Ilam, has produced several well-known works of art in the town, including the maps on display in prominent positions, and Ashbourne’s folkart timeline painting, which is on display in the town hall - and this is her latest big project.
Mrs Prince used her spare time in the lockdown to paint a picture each day in her familiar folk-art style, using only six colours, in egg tempera, a homemade paint made from pigment and her farm’s freerange eggs.
The pictures she has created reflect her own experiences during the pandemic, what she has witnessed in her village and topics that have been on the news each day.
The paintings, many of which have now been collated and published in a book called The Isolation Chronicles, are a poignant mix of humour, sadness, tenderness and political observation.
They include the death of her father, and her having to say goodbye to him.
The book, which features her first 84 paintings covering the whole of the first lockdown period, from March 23 to June 15, 2020, is available by visiting sueprinceartist.co.uk
She will soon be publishing a follow-up book, The Isolation Chronicles book two, which will feature 96 pictures across 200 pages.
Her latest images take her up to her “exit from the pandemic”, and see her skipping out of the vaccination centre having just received her jab.
The final, 180th painting is entitled: “JABBED AND HAPPY: EXIT FROM PANDEMIC: THANK YOU NHS”.
Prints from the series are also available, and for every print sold, Mrs Prince will be donating money to the Unicef Coronavirus Appeal.