To receive updates from parish representatives on organisations they represent which might be of interest to other members of the Forum.

Mr S Rozak from Uppingham Town Council read out the following statement and asked the following question:

We decided the Parish Forum is an opportunity to make a statement about the importance and impact of the loss of rural bus services and in particular the 747 service between Uppingham and Leicester. 

So firstly I don’t want to get into a debate about Uppingham v Oakham to my mind we are all dipping into the same pot for money. I hope that the funds available are fairly distributed around Rutland where public transport services are required.

I also want you to be aware that I do understand the dilemma RCC/LCC have in juggling public money with a commercial concern like Centre bus who are driving for profit and may see subsidy as a solution to their problem of taking on non-profitable routes.

We would like to thank LCC/RCC for their support in providing temporary funding for the 747 through 2017 – without it we wouldn’t be here today discussing its future beyond 2017.

There is a working group of parishes on the 747 route who have regularly met with RCC/LCC representatives over the past 9 months to try and understand the problem we have.

Uppingham have undertaken in conjunction with RCC’s help a survey of the public – to date we have over 250 responses with some interesting data which we are currently digesting.

We have spent a week travelling on the bus talking to passengers and experiencing the bus and its route.

We have been overwhelmed by the reaction to the potential loss of the service and the support from parishes along the route to Leicester.

We accept the community has a key part to play in supporting the service and have done what we can to raise awareness of this – with the aim of arresting the decline in passengers.

We have also taken this opportunity to do a temperature check on pricing as well as float ideas about subtle changes to the route to tackle some longstanding issues.

It’s important to understand that routes like these shouldn’t be viewed in isolation – we’ve learned of a dependence on connecting bus services between towns in Rutland with Leicester.

We also now understand better, some of the ‘myths’ about why numbers have dropped e.g. schools bus services are not a cause.

We think the need for subsidies for these services may need to continue, but it has to be done with passenger’s numbers stable and preferably on the increase.

My question to RCC is as follows:

Can RCC confirm in conjunction with LCC that they will support further funding in 2018 to keep the 747 bus service running allowing the parishes some breathing space to tackle some of the operational issues?

Councillor T Mathias – Leader of Rutland County Council responded with the following comments:

·         Thanked Mr Rozak for his comments regarding Rutland County Council (RCC) and Leicestershire County Council (LCC);

·         LCC proportion of the subsidies is unclear;

·         RCC Senior Transport Manager has a meeting at the end of July to with LCC regarding the future of the service;

·         RCC are working hard to save this service and will know more in September 2017;