Every so often a question in Parliament discloses how out of touch certain MPs are with the reality of life, and how poorly certain policies meet the needs of society. Living in Brighton and Hove means that many of our roads, particularly at rush hour periods are full of buses, travelling in all directions. Although I work in a semi-rural location which happens to be in the constituency of Nusrat Ghani MP, there is a reliable route between Brighton and Uckfield and on to Tunbridge Wells. However there are many other places in Sussex where buses are a rare occurrence. Bearing in mind that this Parliamentary question came from Mark Pritchard MP who is the Conservative MP for the Wrekin in Shropshire near Telford, it is clearly not just parts of Sussex that are impacted by a lack of public transport. However Marks question which on the face of it makes utter sense does disclose how out of touch he is as a member of Parliament which means he should have  a better understanding of public policy than most people.

MP: “To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will hold discussions with Arriva buses to ensure that its statutory obligations relating to access to public transport in rural areas are upheld.”

The answer came from Nusrat Ghani who is a junior Minister in the Department of Transport: “Outside of London, the bus market in England is deregulated. Bus operators have no statutory obligations to make public transport available in particular areas. Where there is not enough demand for a bus route to be commercially viable in its own right, all local authorities have powers to subsidise bus services where they are considered socially necessary. However, the Government understands how important public transport is for those living in rural areas. Ministers from the Department regularly hold discussions with a wide range of bus operators, including Arriva where rural bus service provision is a key focal point of discussion.”

It is perhaps encouraging that an Minister who represents a semi rural constituency claims that the Government understands the importance of rural public transport. It may be useful that her department does hold meetings with bus operators. However this stops a long way short of what is needed if we are to offer rural communities a meaningful way forward. It has been estimated by Action in Rural Sussex that living in rural areas costs residents several thousand pounds more than living in urban areas. Perhaps Nusrat could meet with AiRS and between them they could come up with a strategy that she could present to the Government as a way of going beyond discussions and meetings and attempt to deal with the need for something more substantial!