Good public transport and decent roads are a must for everyone and one of my priorities. This week in Parliament I spoke in a Westminster Hall debate about transport connectivity across the North West. The debate was well attended and allowed me to raise issues which affect many of my constituents.

In the more rural areas of Morecambe and Lunesdale, it can be very hard for residents to get around due to a lack of good public transport. This leaves people without their own vehicle unable to reach vital services like doctors, supermarkets, and schools. Rural businesses and organisations, such as the Sedbergh Economic Partnership, tell me that poor transport is a key feature, alongside a lack of affordable housing, in problems recruiting staff.

Rural areas suffer from poor connectivity on many fronts including a lack of accessibility at railway stations. Issues with accessibility at stations like Garsdale Head and Arnside is causing a real issue whereby residents are unable to get to the platform they need for the train. Footfall may be low but stations like these are vital for rural communities.

Turning to buses, a report by the County Councils Network published in 2023 highlighted the scale of the problem in rural buses. It reported that one in four bus routes in county and rural areas had been cut over the previous 10 years. This is unacceptable and the issue has been recognised by the Government who have invested £27m in Lancashire and £4.2m in Westmorland and Furness to deliver a bus service improvement plan.

I have dealt with, and continue to work on, numerous cases of bus services being cut, both as an MP and a county councillor. Currently I am supporting Sedbergh residents and previously I have helped the 18 in Lancaster, the 33 bus (now the 6B/6C) linking Morecambe, Branksome and Bare and the reinstatement and improvement of bus services in the Lune Valley to Kirkby Lonsdale.

I want to highlight the Lancaster District Bus Users Group as a great asset we have in the area, they do an amazing job of advocating for bus services and I encourage you to join this group if you are, like me, passionate about reliable, good bus services. I’m pleased to see that, at my suggestion, Sedbergh residents are setting up their own bus users group.

Poor transport not only affects residents’ ability to move around the constituency but also makes it hard for visitors to get in. As we await the Eden Project in Morecambe and enter a new era of tourism for our local area, it is crucial that transport is at the forefront of all plans. I continue to be in conversation with the city and county council as well as other relevant partners on this issue.

The Labour Government is committed to improving public transport across the country, with the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024 bringing our railways back into public ownership and the Bus Services Bill which will overhaul how bus services operate, improving connectivity across the country.