A call has been made for collaborative working to address connectivity issues in rural Cumbria.
Penrith and the Border MP Neil Hudson has issued a call to address the issue.
In a debate on Levelling Up rural communities in Cumbria, Dr Hudson urged the Government to set out suitable funding strategies to support councils and operators in providing enough public transport services.
The Penrith and the Border MP said rural isolation was s a major issue in his constituency, the largest by land mass in England.
Dr Hudson said: “These major infrastructure projects that are going up and down the land are very important major arteries, that’s very good. But we also need to consider the veins and the capillaries.
“In rural areas, the capillaries are things like rural buses and rural roads and we very much need to address that.
“For buses, we very much need to look at the funding structure, I very much welcome the rural mobility fund and Cumbria will benefit from that.
“Sadly in 2014, Cumbria County Council took the decision to stop using central government monies to subsidise commercial services and unfortunately some services had to close because of that and that left a big gap.
“I think we need to revisit that at central government and local government levels, we have fantastic volunteer schemes in Cumbria. We have the Fellrunner Bus, the Border Rambler Bus and we have council run schemes like the Rural Wheels, Village Wheels and Community Wheels in Alston Moor.
“But I really want central government and local government to work together with local operators. I’ve met with many private operators who stand ready and waiting to reinstate many of these services that were cut and actually if we get the funding structure right and if local government spends the money that is given to it sensibly by central government, I think we can fulfil that need.”
A spokesman for the council said: “Cumbria County Council has not subsidised commercial bus services since 2013, due to receiving no funding to do so. Bus services in Cumbria are now run on a purely commercial basis – where there is demand and where operators can run a sustainable service, they will run.
“The council’s role is to explore community transport alternatives, such as Rural Wheels or voluntary driver schemes, where a bus service is not viable – details of these are available via our website.”
