Together we're making a difference!
The South Staffordshire Strategic Partnership is an umbrella
partnership that brings together key local agencies from the
public, private, voluntary and community sectors.
South Staffordshire Rural Transport
Partnership - providing a sustainable transport network for South
Staffordshire
Residents in South Staffordshire's rural communities will soon
be feeling less isolated when a strategic shake-up of the
District's public transport system gets moving.
The Council has put rural transport near the top of its list of
priorities. And after allocating £200,000 last year to
improve services, the Council has now linked up with other bodies
to launch a Partnership specifically to address the issue.
The new South Staffordshire Rural Transport Partnership will
look at how links between South Staffordshire rural villages and
the neighbouring cities and towns such as Wolverhampton, Dudley,
Cannock, Walsall and Stafford can be improved.
It follows a major review by the Council of rural transport
links across the District. Since 1986, County Councils no
longer run the buses or control their routes, but they do step in
to help fund services and routes which don't make a profit and
without which some rural villages would be completely cut off.
The Authority has now joined forces with Staffordshire County
Council, and other local agencies from across the public and
voluntary sectors, to address growing concerns regarding rural
accessibility.
The Partnership will also be tasked with developing and
implementing new projects and initiatives to help improve access to
rural transport, including looking at taxi services, community
transport, public transport, and health and social care
transport. Its brief also includes improving travel
opportunities and accessibility for youngsters.
The Partnership is being led by Councillor David Billson (Deputy
Leader), Strategic Services, at South Staffordshire Council.
He said, "Transport in South Staffordshire has been a problem
for many years and affects everyone, young and old. The
reality is, if you have not got access to a car, it's difficult to
get around."
"Some children can't take part in a full school life because of
the lack of transport links. This is why we are spending this
money - to look at transport provision to tackle some of the
problems young people have, but also for our older generations who
are still finding it difficult to get form their homes to receive
medical treatment".
So who is involved in the partnership?
South Staffordshire Council has allocated
£200,000 into the partnership.
Staffordshire County Council already works with
private bus and rail companies and spends over £3,000,000
(£500,000 in South Staffordshire) each year on funding vital bus
services for communities who would otherwise not have a link to the
shops, employment and leisure.
South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust is
involved because they want local people to have better access to
medical serves and leisure activities.
The Community Council of Staffordshire is a
charitable voluntary organisation which helps to support rural
communities and which is keen to see transport links improved for
local people.
Liaison will also take place with local taxi companies to see
what role they can play to help isolated rural communities to
access local services.
There is a lot of work to be done to provide a long-term rural
transport network, but the South Staffordshire Rural Transport
Partnership has already started to make a difference for our
villages.
Please click on the links below to read more about the
Partnership's work to date:
Briefing Notes - June 2010 (123
KB)
South Staffordshire Review article
Summer 2010 (1.99 MB)
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