Transport & Social Inclusion

Speech by Cllr Jean Fooks delivered to Liberal Democrat Conference on Wed 20th Sep 2006

Jean also spoke in the debate on Wednesday on Transport and Social Inclusion. She highlighted the problems faced by people in rural areas, and was able to quote Lib Dem County Cllr David Turner's phrase that "Every Child Matters—unless they live in a rural area".

Jean said, "The Government's bright ideas on Extended Schools and Children's Centres are essentially aimed at urban areas. How can young people in the country get to schools after hours or to leisure facilities, unless their parents can drive them? Young mothers cannot take their children to a Children's Centre in a nearby town if there is no transport. We need, too, to be mindful that fuel duty increases will hit the rural poor hard and it is not clear that any satisfactory way of reducing the burden on rural families has been found. What happened to integrated transport? We need buses that meet trains and trains that call at country stations. And we need affordable public transport."