Sarah Dyke

Sarah Dyke

Liberal Democrat — Glastonbury and Somerton

Speaking in the House of Commons on 11 September 2024

Debate

Rural Bus Services

Contribution

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. That is an issue that I will come to later. Budgeted local authority expenditure per resident in rural areas is on average £11.68, compared with £20.22 in urban areas. A report from the County Councils Network partly blamed how the previous Government’s national bus strategy apportioned funding. It found that two thirds of the funding went to urban areas, despite these areas having seen lower declines in passenger numbers than rural areas. It also found that councils in rural and county areas were experiencing a £420 million shortfall in their transport budgets, impacting their ability to subsidise operating routes regarded by the operator as commercially unviable.

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