It is a "disgrace" that Shrewsbury does not have a Sunday bus service, the town's MP has said.
Speaking in Parliament, Julia Buckley MP launched a staunch attack on the previous Government, stating that Shropshire lost more than 63 per cent of bus routes during their last term in office.
Speaking in Parliament, Julia Buckley MP launched a staunch attack on the previous Government, stating that Shropshire lost more than 63 per cent of bus routes during their last term in office.
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00:00Madam Deputy Speaker, Shrewsbury has waited 10 years for a Labour government to bring forward this bill.
00:08Because during the course of the last government, our county of Shropshire lost over 63% of our bus routes.
00:16So that is two out of every three buses have been withdrawn.
00:20And that was due to the savage privatisation which forced bus companies to pursue profits over passengers.
00:26And for my residents, this means bus routes stripped away from villages that are now cut off from vital health and education services, work or leisure.
00:36This means we have no buses after 6.30 anywhere in my constituency.
00:42This means we have no buses anywhere on a Sunday.
00:47In fact, in Shrewsbury, we haven't seen a Sunday bus for 10 years.
00:51I don't know how familiar you are with my wonderful, beautiful constituency.
00:56But Shrewsbury is a market town of 65,000 residents.
01:00The county town of Shropshire, hosting health, public and cultural services for 19 market towns and 400 villages.
01:08And yet we are the only county town in this country not to have a Sunday service.
01:13It is a disgrace and a painful symptom of the impact the last government had on public services in towns like mine, up and down this country.
01:23The lack of evening services also puts severe constraints on our night-time economy and potential for residents to get home safely after work, travel or an evening out.
01:34Not everyone can afford to run a car or are medically able to drive.
01:38The population in Shropshire is nine years over the national average, so many older residents have given up their vehicles and find themselves stranded in the evenings, at weekends and in some villages left completely socially isolated.
01:52The population in Shrewsbury is a very active volunteer in her local community.
02:02Following her recent knee replacement operation last month, she became reliant on buses.
02:06She couldn't be happier with our new on-demand electric minibuses in her area, funded via the government's bus services improvement plan.
02:15And is such a convert, she plans to keep using them even after her recovery.
02:19But she explained to me that although she could get to a five o'clock doctor's appointment, she has no way of getting home, because there are no evening buses in Shrewsbury.
02:30I'm regularly contacted by employees telling me by the time they've finished work at six, they can't get across to the bus station to catch the last bus home.
02:37So we are preventing residents from getting to and from employment, putting a real block on economic growth.
02:43And this is corroborated by my local Chamber of Commerce, who run a quarterly business survey with their businesses.
02:50We can receive regular feedback every single quarter, saying the primary barrier to recruitment is the lack of bus services that run early enough and late enough to support particularly young people to access employment opportunities.
03:03So, my sorry tale from Shrewsbury is of a beautiful place, which is so very often cut off from those communities and individuals without a car.
03:14And the last thing we want to encourage is even more congestion in our historic town centre.
03:19He said we must try to rebuild our public transport system, which was dismantled by the Conservatives during their time in office.
03:26They should hang their heads in shame for every one of the 5,000 miles of bus routes they cancelled in towns like mine, for every youngster who can't access a job opportunity, for every pensioner who can't visit a family on a Sunday, and for every village cut off from public services.
03:46Ten years is a long time to wait to be reconnected to the outside world.
03:52But the good people of Shrewsbury will today be celebrating as we debate this bus services bill, which will give back the powers to local authorities to enable them to run services for passengers and not just for profits.
04:06The bill introduces a new clause allowing for socially necessary routes to link up medical, educational, public services to the local community at stops and times that empower them and not just the operator.
04:18Finally, by changing the law away from exclusive privatisation, we can move forward to a responsive, community-led model for our public transport authorities.
04:28This bill won't just improve lives in Shrewsbury.
04:32It will transform lives, transform aspirations and transform the well-being of my residents who have waited a decade for a Labour government to give us back our Sunday service.
04:44Hey, hey, hey, hey.
04:45Hey, hey, hey.
04:45Hey, hey, hey.
04:45Hey, hey, hey, hey.