Tories here should follow Boris' lead

Written by David Kendall and published in Brentwood Gazette on Sat 24th May 2008

With the recent election of Boris Johnson as London's new Tory Mayor it was pleasing to see the priority he was giving to public transport and in particular buses in his first few days in office.

This focus on public transport is something his Conservative colleagues running Essex County Council should take note of and do something about in places like Brentwood which are crying out for more funding and better services.

In my view it is a disgrace that Brentwood only has one evening bus service operating in the borough and that is the 498 (Transport for London) service operating between Brentwood and Romford. What about our residents who want to use evening bus services in the rest of the borough?

The situation isn't much better for residents wanting to use services on a Sunday. Yes, there is now a limited Sunday service on the 73 route after much lobbying by the Brentwood Bus and Rail Users Association and others but again what about the rest of the borough?

Whole swathes of our community still have no Sunday service at all and are unable to access those Sunday services that do run unless they get a taxi or walk for miles.

I know that the many bus users on the East Ham estate have been crying out for a Sunday bus service for years but nothing has been delivered.

Brentwood residents are paying in some cases thousands of pounds of council tax to Essex County Council and I believe they deserve a better deal.

The Conservatives running Essex County Council should tell us how much is being spent on subsidising bus travel in Brentwood compared to other similar sized towns in Essex and what action are they are going to take to improve things going forward.

Cllr David Kendall

Liberal Democrat Group Leader

Brentwood Borough Council