MP demands national review of public transport for UK’s towns

THE GOVERNMENT will today be urged to launch a national consultation and introduce extra funding to address a looming public transport crisis in towns across the country.

In a Westminster Hall debate, South Yorkshire MP Caroline Flint will confront Ministers over poor services throughout Britain, which she claims are damaging people’s life chances.

She will highlight research which shows unreliable public transport prevents poor families in the North of England from accessing crucial job opportunities.

Ahead of the debate, the Labour MP for Don Valley told The Yorkshire Post: “I’m delighted to be able to highlight important transport concerns that affect Doncaster and its outlying towns.

“Transport has a key role to play in revitalising towns. Good transport efficiently connects towns to other towns, and to larger cities with bigger economies.

“I will highlight research that shows how unreliable public transport is cutting off the poorest families in the North of England from crucial job opportunities, making it harder for them to attend job interviews and hold on to paid employment.

“This leaves some of the poorest communities as the most isolated. It entrenches poverty and increases inequality.”

Ms Flint added that ministers had recently admitted some UK areas had suffered “long-term under-investment stretching back decades”, that “would require substantial investment… after such a long period of neglect and decline”.

She is calling for a national consultation on transport solutions for smaller towns as well as a review of how local bus routes are changed and a new national infrastructure fund.

“Together, these would be part of a new deal for our towns after Brexit,” she said.

The research which Ms Flint will highlight was released last year by Sheffield’s Universities and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. It found northern families were losing out on job opportunities because of the cost and unreliability of public transport.

One interviewee from Leeds said: “There’s a place called Sherburn-in-Elmet and they have tons of work, big industrial estate, but there’s no bus service, it’s about 13 miles away. I do not understand why they build a big estate where there’s no transport. If you haven’t got a car you can’t have a job.”

Sheffield Hallam University’s director of regional economic and social research, Ed Ferrari, said buses were the backbone of local public transport but problems with high fares, poor coordination between different providers and a lack of reliability hamper the ability of low-income groups to commute to more distant jobs.

He said policymakers needed to see investment in high quality local transport systems as an investment in national productivity and tackling inequality.

Campaigners have long highlighted the impact of poor transport links on people living in rural parts of the region.

Earlier this month, countryside campaigners called for better and more affordable transport links to National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty to ensure poorer families in large swathes of England can enjoy the benefits of “our finest landscapes”.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England released research showing that 36 per cent of England’s population live too far from the current network of 10 National Parks and 34 AONBs for these areas to be classified as “easily accessible”.

It leaves some of the poorest communities as the most isolated.

Caroline Flint MP talks about the impact of poor transport links.