With you in tough times | Lancashire bus cuts disrupt start to new school year

Lancashire bus cuts disrupt start to new school year

LANCASHIRE Labour has launched a campaign highlighting the short sighted bus cuts that threaten to disrupt young people’s return to school.

Tory-led Lancashire County Council has cut £829,000 from this year’s transport budget with more than 330,000 bus journeys per year axed across Lancashire. So far 16 local and school bus routes have been scrapped, in addition to fares increases on many routes.

School pupils have been left without buses in Nelson and Burnley, as the 978 and 897 Sir John Thursby services are cut; as well as the 834 in Chorley which runs to Lostock Hall High School in South Ribble.

Councillor Jennifer Mein, Lancashire County Council Labour Group leader, said:

“The Tory-led government is cutting local transport funding too far and too fast and this is now having a real impact on bus services in Lancashire.

“In the budget proposals there were over 330,000 journeys a year to be taken off the bus network and we are now beginning to see the impact. There are still more cuts to come across the County and it’s a disgrace that our young people are bearing the brunt.

“Lancashire’s public transport network plays a vital role in allowing access to education and employment, keeps our town centres busy and accessible and can prevent many residents from becoming isolated in their communities.

“It’s vital that we develop sustainable bus routes in Lancashire instead of simply cutting them at break neck speed.”

Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle said:

“The withdrawal of the services in Chorley and across Lancashire are a major blow for pupils and their parents.

“This decision is short sighted and there’s no excuse for the County Council hitting ordinary working families in this way.

“The Tory-led Government’s cuts go too far and too fast and are having a massive impact on the people I represent.”

North West MP Maria Eagle, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, said:

"We all want young people to reach their full potential, but the loss of bus services and support for transport costs in Lancashire and across the country is making it harder and harder for that to be possible.

"This stealth attack on young people's opportunities comes on top of the loss of EMA and the trebling of tuition fees and is caused by the Tory-led government's decision to cut local transport funding too far and too fast.”

Case study:

Lian Pate, Burnley Labour’s youth spokesperson, lives on Glen View Road, in Burnley.

Her son Robert, aged 16, used the 897 bus service – that ran from Glen View Road to Sir John Thursby Community College in Burnley. Lancashire County Council closed the route in June.

Lian said:

“Robert has used this bus service for the last five years and without it, it would have taken him well over an hour to walk each way.

“We’re really proud of how well he did with his GCSEs but it just seems such a shame that other parents’ children are going to be hit by this cut.

“And for Robert now there’s just no easy way for him to get to his new college. It’s going to take him well over an hour again to walk there.

“It’s vital not just for young people but the whole of the community that we develop sustainable bus routes in Lancashire rather than cutting too far and too fast.”

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