THE Community Council of Devon is backing a plea for five key outcomes from a Commons inquiry into transport in isolated rural communities.

Janice Banks, chief executive of ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England), made the call for action after giving evidence to the House of Commons Transport Committee.

Community Council of Devon, a member of the nationwide ACRE network of rural community councils, said the transport challenges faced by rural communities needed to be fully recognised by the Government.

Community Council of Devon chief executive, Elaine Cook, said: 'Many rural dwellers who don't have access to a car are finding it a real challenge to reach the services they need — whether that's a hospital, post office, bank or shop — because of cuts in public transport.

 'The Community Council of Devon has been working with some of Devon's community transport schemes in recent months to help them look at working towards financial sustainability in the face of reduced funding.

'We're keen to ensure that these schemes continue to provide a vital lifeline to the rural communities that rely on them.

'Only 42% of households in the most rural areas have a regular bus service — compared with 96% of urban households, while rural dwellers travel 10,000 miles each year compared with 6,400 by their urban counterparts.

 'The Government must take a joined-up approach to rural transport services before people living in rural communities become even more isolated and disadvantaged.'

ACRE is calling for five key outcomes from the Transport Committee inquiry:

l The Government must accept that essential rural transport services will always need subsidies.

l Local authorities should be obliged to provide core rural transport services and support community transport schemes that fill in the gaps.

l  Better connectivity and partnership working between all transport providers — bus, rail, community transport and taxis — is needed to give the best service with the resources available.

l Recognition of the needs of vulnerable groups, including the young, elderly, jobless and disabled, in isolated communities.

l Better communication of the services that are available – unused transport is not viable.

 ACRE Chief Executive Janice Banks said: 'The Government needs to accept that it is totally unrealistic for essential rural transport services to run without subsidies. Local authorities need sufficient funding for core services — and to be able to give support to the volunteers who run community transport schemes, from minibuses to car shares.

'ACRE very much welcomed the opportunity to put forward its views to the House of Commons Transport Committee and we look forward to reading its report.

'We hope the outcome is a better deal for people living and working in rural communities.'