Frome North Councillor Dawn Denton has called for recently confirmed government funding for bus services to be used to tackle long-standing reliability and connectivity issues facing residents in Frome.
In December, the Government announced that Somerset would receive more than £24.7 million to improve local bus services up to 2030, including £13.1 million in revenue funding specifically intended to support day-to-day bus operations and make services more affordable and reliable for passengers.
Speaking at a recent Full Council meeting, Councillor Denton made clear that Frome must see a fair share of this funding, highlighting the real impact poor bus services are having on residents across the town.
She said, "The transport secretary has made £13.1m available to Somerset Council over the next three years for our declining bus services. The residents of Frome, across demographics, are disadvantaged due to the poor bus connectivity. Our older residents, including those living in areas like Critchill, have to catch a bus into the centre of Frome, wait in the wind and rain, to get another bus to the medical centre. Our young people are unable to access apprenticeships in and around Frome, due to the infrequency of our bus service. Those working in hospitality are still lucky to have a job, but find the service unreliable."
Councillor Denton added: "The Slinky Bus does not have a high uptake in the former Mendip area due to a range of issues (e.g. the need to book, something new and unfamiliar). We would like to see some transport investment into our community, in and around Frome. Frome deserves its fair share of funding to improve our bus services. Can you give us a breakdown of how this £13.1 m for our bus services will be allocated and the criteria used to decide where in Somerset our communities will see the benefit of this money?"
The portfolio holder for transport and waste services, said: "I'm really pleased that the government has confirmed that we will be receiving a multi-year settlement - that's really important to improve local bus services. We've really only just learned what the sums are and we're working that through - we haven't done the breakdown of how it will be allocated to specific schemes at the moment. I will update all members on this in due course."
