2.3 Rural Accessibility and Social Inclusion

The first Local Transport Plan (Section 1.2) sets out a Transport Vision of;

• A transport system as environmentally friendly as possible;
• Safe, reliable and enjoyable journeys by all modes;
• Transport that reduces delays, supports sustainable economic activity and moves freight by the most efficient means;
• A true choice of access to employment and amenities that promotes social inclusion.

Lancashire is a large and varied county. Beyond the commercial centres and industrial valleys there are wide stretches of attractive countryside, including two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Rural Lancashire has two distinct groups of residents - those with choices and transport and those without transport who feel that rurality constrains them from finding work, leisure and entertainment. In the Rural Development Commission and Local Authority Survey of Rural Lancashire (1999), 59% of respondents regarded the lack of public transport and the cost of travel as a significant barrier to obtaining training.

Inequalities in health and opportunities for education and work handicap social inclusion. Good access to education, economic and social activities is essential to promote it. In 2003 Making the Connections, the Final Report on Transport and Social Exclusion, identified work, learning, healthcare and shopping for good food as essential services reliant upon transport.

Progress on rural accessibility and social inclusion integrates the strategies for Rural Transport (2.17) and Social Inclusion (2.18). The Rural Transport Policies of LTP1 recognised the reliance of the rural community on motor vehicles to meet their everyday needs and set out a number of measures to reduce car dependency and provide transport for people without access to a car. We have provided transport solutions carefully designed to meet the particular problems of rural areas and to build a better community.

2.3.1 Promoting Social Inclusion in Rural Areas

The distance between residents and services is a cause of isolation in rural areas. This is compounded by the lower level of public transport; bus services are often less frequent and in some areas they may not exist at all. One way to make services more easily accessible is to improve transport to services from rural areas. We have developed the transport network in rural areas with the support of the North and South Lancashire Rural Transport Partnership Officers and the West of Lancashire Community Rail Partnership Officer. From 2000-2005 they worked closely with their communities to implement local improvements.

We have developed a package of transport improvements to improve accessibility to services from rural areas and promoted active travel and public transport. Our provision for walking and cycling has not only increased accessibility. It has also increased the scope for rural tourism and provided greater opportunities for exercise both on routine journeys to school or work and as an enjoyable activity in leisure time. Regular exercise, in turn, makes a valuable contribution to the health and fitness of a community.

Another way to improve access to services is to deliver more of them within rural areas, and we have worked with partners to do this. The work of the public, private and voluntary sectors must be integrated, and the Lancashire Rural Partnership is central to the efforts to support rural communities. The Lancashire Rural Recovery Action Plan is a £16 million programme, and in 2002 the Lancashire Rural Partnership secured funding totalling £9.75 million from the Northwest Regional Development Agency to implement the plan over five years.

2.3.2 Lancashire Rural Recovery Action Plan (LRRAP)

The Lancashire Rural Recovery Action Plan was launched in 2003 and is dedicated to the creating a dynamic rural economy which will be financially, socially and environmentally sustainable. Transport is often an important element and we work closely to integrate transport measures within individual projects.

The Bowland Initiative in the Forest of Bowland was one of two national pilots set up in 1999 tasked with testing the integrated delivery of economic and environmental objectives. It has now grown into Lancashire Rural Futures and has received £3.22 million of LRRAP money to deliver the Rural Business Facilitation Service and £279,500 for Community Futures to work with rural communities under the Rural Community Inclusion Programme to develop co-operative activity and community enterprises to improve access to services.

By 2004, the programme had approved more than £7 million of funding for a broad range of initiatives which have created or safeguarded almost 400 jobs and helped to boost the quality of life and the local economy and to improve the well-being of communities across Lancashire. In 2004, the LRRAP Performance Plan 2004 to 2005 allocated a further £1.25 million for projects.

Rural tourism is an important source of local employment. Sustainable public transport brings people into the countryside to enjoy rural activities. Safe and attractive routes bring the custom of walkers, cyclists and horse riders to local businesses. In 2003, our work led to Lancashire County Council’s award of Beacon Council for Supporting the Rural Economy. Our submission to the National Transport Awards in 2004 for Rural Transport was Highly Commended.

Tourism must take account of the needs of the environment, local communities and the local economy, and in 2004 we published a Rural Tourism Strategy. In 2005 we were the first area in Great Britain to gain the prestigious Europarc award of the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas for our work in Bowland. Also in 2005 DEFRA chose Lancashire to lead the Rural Delivery Pathfinder for the North West. We will use our experience to examine access to rural services, assess the value that public transport makes to rural economies and develop links to second generation Local PSA targets.

2.3.3 Measures to improve travel to services

Bus services

Rural areas are comparatively poorly served by commercial services. The Government provided Rural Bus Grant of £750,000 for each of the six financial years 1998/99 to 2003/04 to improve public transport provision in Lancashire’s rural areas, with £50,000 per annum expenditure on publicity. This allowed us to supplement the commercial services with additional conventional services to villages, including the Lune Villager and Fylde Villager routes.

Market towns lie at the heart of rural areas and meet their immediate needs. We have therefore improved transport from the surrounding areas to the market towns. Five Lancashire towns were included in the Market Towns Initiative and received support from the Countryside Agency and NWDA; Barnoldswick, Carnforth, Clitheroe, Garstang and Padiham. Using funding from the Countryside Agency and Rural Bus Challenge, we introduced Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) bus services based on market towns to serve rural areas. These services have a fixed route and timetable but are able to leave their usual route to make door-to-door journeys. The low floor buses are easily accessible and can also carry bicycles. We also operate Dial-a-Ride services in Ribble Valley and Rossendale.

Table 2.2 Public Transport Measures to Improve Rural Accessibility

Market Town; District	Public Transport Measures to Improve Rural Accessibility
Carnforth; Lancaster	Carnforth Connect DRT provides a connection with Lancaster trains. Line 1 operates to Milnthorpe. Line 2 to Kirkby Lonsdale supplemented services to Lancaster and has been withdrawn. Train tickets to Carnforth Bus include bus travel. On Sundays, the Bittern Bus runs from Lancaster University to Carnforth and Arnside via Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve. The interchange has a staffed office to help travellers, sell train tickets and take bookings for the Demand Responsive Transport element. Silverdale Shuttle runs from the village centre to the railway station to meet trains on the Carnforth to Barrow line. Rural Intelligent Bus-stops provide real time bus and train information for Carnforth Connect and Silverdale Shuttle.
Clitheroe; Ribble Valley	Clitheroe Interchange provides a base for local and inter-urban bus services. The staffed office sells train tickets and takes bookings for the DRT and Dial-a-Ride services. A Combi train ticket includes bus travel. A rural Quality Bus network operates around Clitheroe Bowland Transit DRT runs daily to Settle railway station and weekly to Garstang. The Combi train ticket includes bus travel. Bowland Transit won two of the Bus Industry Awards in 2004; the Bus in the Countryside and the Buses for Pleasure. Ribble Valley Rider runs to villages in the Ribble Valley. Originally set up as a demand responsive service, it now operates as a Dial-a-Ride service. The Ribble Valley Day Ranger ticket is valid on all local bus services from Clitheroe and on selected services to destinations as far as Preston, Blackburn and Burnley.
Garstang; Wyre	The Garstang Super 8 DRT provides a link to services including Garstang Health Centre and Poulton railway station. Through ticketing by bus to neighbouring towns.
Kirkham; Fylde	The Kirkham Link Dial-a-Ride bus can be used for social visits, to reach shops or to meet health appointments. The service is also a link to buses for onward travel and to local railway stations for trains to Blackpool and Preston.
Burscough; West Lancashire	Burscough Bridge is a new bus/rail interchange on the Southport to Manchester line. This will improve access by train to employment in Southport, Wigan and Manchester. It will also improve access by bus to healthcare and other services in Ormskirk.
Padiham; Burnley	The Mainline Quality Bus route connects Padiham to services in Burnley and the Colne Valley.
Nelson; Pendle	The Pendle Wayfarer has two services. A DRT service operates in Pendleside and a Dial-a-Ride service in West Craven, together with a school service in the morning and the afternoon. On summer Sundays, the Pendle Witch Hopper runs on a circular route around Pendle Hill, linking all the villages between Burnley and Nelson. Plans are now out to public consultation for the new Nelson rail/bus interchange. Construction is programmed for LTP2.
Rawtenstall; Rossendale	The County Rider provides a link to the villages around Rossendale. The four buses are fully accessible with either a ramp at the entrance or a wheelchair lift.
Whalley; Ribble Valley Great Harwood; Hyndburn	To provide better links with education and employment in Manchester, the County Council relaunched the X40/X41 Whalley-Great Harwood-Manchester services in partnership with bus operator Lancashire United. Between July 2002 and March 2006, targeted promotions and greatly improved services have seen passengers increase from 5,000 to 35,000 per month. The scheme won the Marketing Award at the Bus Industry Awards in 2003. Whalley bus station has been renovated to offer better waiting facilities for passengers.
New bus stations	Major new bus stations in Lancaster, Burnley and Chorley have provided better terminal amenities for passengers using rural bus services to access town centre services and make onward journeys.

Fleetwood-Knott End Ferry

The Fleetwood-Knott End ferry crosses the River Wyre in five minutes, saving a road journey of 20 miles. A new vessel powered by waterjets was commissioned and entered service in April 2006, providing a year-round service to the rural communities of Over Wyre. The landing stages have been adapted to accommodate wheelchairs and cyclists. At Knott End, the ferry connects with the bus service to Lancaster. Drivers can leave their cars at the Park & Ride site. At Fleetwood, the ferry terminal is within walking distance of the town centre and has links with tram and bus services for onward journeys.

Rail Travel

Lancashire has a network of railway lines serving rural stations. We have worked with the SRA/DfT Rail Group, Network Rail and the Train Operating Companies to maintain and improve the services that they offer to rural areas.

Table 2.3 Measures to improve rural rail travel

Rural Railway Line	Measures
Carnforth-Skipton-Leeds	Manned bus/rail interchange at Carnforth for Carnforth Connect buses. Off-peak services improved. Leisure travel by train promoted in conjunction with a Canal Bus service from Lancaster to Carnforth.
Clitheroe-Manchester	Manned bus/rail interchanged serving local bus services at Clitheroe, plus Park & Ride. Accessibility and security at stations have been improved under the DfT Secure Transport pilot. Off-peak and Sunday services introduced. We have continued the DalesRail service on summer Sundays from Blackpool via Clitheroe and Settle to Carlisle. Bus links run from intermediate stations to Wensleydale, Swardale and Dentdale. There is a full programme of guided walks too.
South Fylde	Service level maintained. Leisure travel by train promoted with a Rail Ale Trail.
Preston-Ormskirk	Service level maintained. Train information and personal security improvements prepared for implementation in LTP2. Leisure travel by train promoted with booklet of cycle rides starting from West Lancashire stations.
Southport-Wigan-Manchester	The West Lancashire Community Rail Partnership was established in 2001. Experience gained from working with the Association of Community Rail Partnerships has proved useful in establishing further Community Rail Partnerships. The introduction of Southport-Manchester Airport services doubled the frequency of trains. We have supported this with the construction of a bus/rail interchange at Burscough Bridge. It includes a Park & Ride site and we will examine ways to meet the demand for Park & Ride at Appley Bridge in LTP2. A substantial refurbishment of Parbold station won a Community Rail Award in 2005.

Community Transport and Community Cars

Community Transport schemes make a valuable contribution in bridging the gaps in the transport network, especially for people who do not own a car and are unable to use conventional public transport. Together with our own DRT and Dial-a-Ride services, they give cover across the great majority of the county.

Table 2.4 Community Transport Schemes

Community Transport Schemes
Community Transport	Community Transport provides transport for people who are unable to use conventional services. We support eight operations across the County based on; Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde, Burnley and Pendle, West Lancashire, Preston, Lancaster and Morecambe, Chorley, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley.
Community Cars	Community car schemes using volunteer drivers help people who cannot use public transport easily. We support ten schemes across the County.

We have worked hard to design our bus services to meet local demands and to increase the patronage. After three years the funding to establish these services usually ends. The fare revenue is unlikely to meet the criteria to maintain the level of service and it has generally only been possible for us to continue each route at a lower level of service.

Links to Healthcare

Medical services have been gathered into larger and more specialised centres, requiring longer journeys for patients, visitors and staff. With the support of Rural Bus Grant, we have provided better bus services to the healthcare centres from rural areas. We have provided conventional services to hospitals, including Royal Preston Hospital from Ribble Valley and Chorley Hospital from South Ribble and Chorley district. We have extended the Blackpool Victoria Hospital to Skippool service to serve the Over Wyre villages of Hambleton, Preesall and Knott End.

Working with the Rural Transport Partnerships and NHS Trusts, we have put on Dial-a-Ride services from rural areas to healthcare centres. Where capacity allows, we have widened the services and destinations that they serve.

In 2002, Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale PCT introduced a mobile dental service to serve the rural population of Barnoldswick and Earby. We are working with PCTs and Hospital Trusts to bring further improvements to accessibility to healthcare.

Table 2.5 Measures to improve links to Healthcare

Measure; Rural District Served.	Links to Healthcare
Wyldefyre; Fylde and Wyre	Serves Great Eccleston and Over Wyre Health Centres plus Blackpool Victoria Hospital. Works in partnership with Blackpool Fylde and Wyre PCT and Lancashire Ambulance NHS Trust. Wyldefyre won the Effective Partnerships Award in the Cumbria and Lancashire Strategic Health Authority Achievement Awards in 2005.
Transport to Health; West Lancashire	Takes patients from the rural areas of West Lancashire to healthcare appointments at Ormskirk and Southport Hospitals.
Red Rose Runner; South Ribble and Chorley	Serves Chorley and Preston Hospitals. Real time bus information screen installed in entrance to Preston Hospital.
Optimum2 Programme; Preston, South Ribble and Chorley	In this EU programme we are working with Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to improve access to Preston and Chorley Hospitals. Improvements include a shuttle service between the two sites for staff, patients and visitors. A Travel Management System is under development to integrate appointment times with transport.
Access to Healthcare in East Lancashire	We have worked closely with East Lancashire NHS Hospital Trust to ensure that accessibility for patients, staff and visitors is fully considered within the current Clinical Review. The draft review is now undergoing full public consultation.
Access to Healthcare in West Lancashire	We have worked closely with West Lancashire PCT to integrate accessibility within their Public Health Improvement Plan and with their Health Promotion Department to establish the Sport and Physical Activity Network (SPAN)
Cycle- and Footways; Countywide	The National Cycle Network and local cycle- and footways have increased opportunities for exercise and improved levels of fitness and health.
Travel Plans; Countywide	School and Work Travel Plans have encouraged students and adults to use active travel on trips to education and employment.
Programmes of Walks and Rides; Countywide	Lancashire Countryside Service and the Wyre Coast and Countryside Service arrange programmes of rural walks and rides. District Councils set up programmes under the Walking the Way to Health Initiative of the Countryside Agency and the British Heart Foundation. We will work with the Countryside Agency on its next project, Green Exercise, aimed at hard-to-reach groups and deprived areas.

Links to Education and Employment

Students in rural areas have longer journeys to their schools and are more dependent upon the statutory school services. Lancashire has reorganised all the transport services it procures in a new unit, the Passenger Transport Unit. It operates extensive School Transport and Special Education Needs service.

Travel arrangements can be a barrier to attending college. Through the South Lancashire Rural Transport Partnership, we set up a Wheels to Learning scheme at Runshaw College, Leyland. A scooter hire scheme was the most popular of the variety of transport solutions offered. In Ribble Valley, a similar scheme offers scooter hire to people seeking employment.

Active Travel

Improved corridors for cycling and walking encourage journeys on foot and by bicycle to school and to work. We have drawn up a network of Quiet Roads and Greenways in Ribble Valley, based upon the villages of Chipping and Slaidburn. Following widespread local consultation, the implementation of Phase 1 has been completed. Phase 2 has been through consultation based upon Parish Councils and will be implemented in LTP2. Traffic volumes and speeds before and after the completed scheme will be compared.

The NCN provides a continuous route passing through rural areas and penetrating into urban centres. We have constructed two thirds of the National Cycle Network in Lancashire and will complete it in LTP2. Under the annual programme of cycling schemes, local cycle routes have been built to meet local needs and serve local destinations.

Finance from the LTP Integrated Transport Fund is supported by grants from a number of sources, including the Remade in Lancashire programme. Supported by the NWDA to restore derelict sites, this programme has completed the construction of a shared use path along the former railway from Glasson Dock to Lancaster.

Access to Countryside and the Rights of Way Network

Lancashire has a long history of countryside use. It is the only Shire County to make substantial use of the powers granted in the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside act to secure access to upland open country. The county boasts a diverse countryside with a good network of public rights of way in most part s of the county along with a number of Country Parks, picnic sites and other countryside sites for people to enjoy.

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 contains measures to improve public access to the open countryside and registered common land and amends the law relating to public rights of way. The Lancashire Integrated Access Project, Access All Areas, was one of six national pilots of the Countryside Agency to increase access to the wider countryside for people of all mobilities. The Bowland Open Access Pilot Study gave walkers new access to broad stretches of land in Bowland and other parts of the county in 2004.

We established the Lancashire Local Access Forum in 2001 to advise on the implementation of access to open countryside. Lancashire has been the lead authority in preparing the Rights of Way Improvement Plan for Lancashire, Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen, which was completed and submitted to Defra in 2005. Lancashire opened the first phase of the North Lancashire Bridleway in 2004 with funding from Lancashire Rural Futures. We will complete it during LTP2 and use our experience to build a network of multi-user bridleways across the county.

Lancashire acted as the lead authority again on the construction of the Mary Towneley Loop, completed in 2002. This 68km section of the Pennine Bridleway National Trail was promoted by the Countryside Agency with support from Sport England. Pegasus crossings allow riders to cross the main roads in safety. The Loop was the first section to be opened to the public and Lancashire compiled the Guidelines for the Pennine Bridleway for the guidance of other authorities. Lancashire also led the preparation of the Bridleway Strategy 2006-2013 for the West Pennine Moors, which includes a feeder link to the Pennine Bridleway.

Research has highlighted the economic benefits of supporting the rural economy (Countryside Agency, 2004). The opening of the Loop has led to the establishment of the following businesses;

• Seven new bed and breakfast establishments with stabling and other facilities,
• Five other new stabling facilities mainly linked to existing accommodation,
• One new self catering establishment,
• One new cycle hire business, and
• Two new booking/package companies.

2.3.4 Taking Services Closer to People

We have worked with our partners to increase the delivery of services in rural areas. Lancashire has 84 static libraries spread across the county and we maintain a fleet of 12 mobile libraries to serve the areas where access to static libraries is difficult. We have introduced three Library Link vehicles to serve residential and nursing homes. These vehicles have easy access for people with mobility problems. For housebound people, we deliver library materials and information to their home.

Many commercial services have been withdrawn from rural areas. To counteract this, the Enterprising Rural Communities programme has completed ten Community Resource Centres, with four more programmed, to enable vital activities and services to remain in villages. New halls have been built and existing buildings have been refurbished and extended across Lancashire.

Greater value can be gained from programmes when they support one another. New rural bus services and a programme of 14 new Community Resource Centres have both contributed to greatly improved access to services. They have been funded from different programmes and it has not always been easy to coordinate them. The DfT fund supports a new bus scheme for three years, which may not be long enough to establish the service securely within the local community. It also may not be long enough to serve the opening of a particular resource centre in a community led programme that has to respond to local opportunities and difficulties.

We are working on two initiatives to improve our delivery of rural schemes. In September 2005 the Lancashire Rural Delivery Pathfinder began a study to inform future decision-making and public service delivery. The new Accessibility Strategy in the second LTP will strengthen partnership working to produce sustainable solutions to access problems.

Services can also be delivered electronically to local centres and homes. With the appropriate infrastructure, information and knowledge can be accessed at school, work and home over the internet, reducing the need for travel. Lancaster University, with Lancashire and Cumbria County Councils as partners, have delivered the largest ‘last-mile’ regional broadband infrastructure in Europe across a highly dispersed and largely rural region. In January 2006, the University won a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher & Further Education for demonstrating work of a world-class standard of excellence in this achievement.

The broadband infrastructure serves libraries, museums, community and adult learning centres. Lancaster University is the hub of the Cumbria and North Lancashire wide-area academic network (CANLMAN) providing network connectivity to St Martin’s College in Lancaster, Cumbria Institute of the Arts and Carlisle College. The most extensive network of nodes is for the Cumbria and Lancashire Education Online (CLEO) Regional Broadband Consortium. This has hooked up over 1,000 schools, including remote primary schools in Lakeland valleys and rural Lancashire which either are beyond the reach of commercial telecommunications networks or cannot afford the commercial charges.

We are keen to promote e-government. We are members of the EU programme E-bygov and have increased the number of our services available on line. The On Line Reference Library gives access to a large database of information. MARIO (Maps and Related Information On-line) is an interactive map which allows access to information held by the Council anywhere in Lancashire. It was awarded the CSS Information Excellence Award in 2002.

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