A WESTMINSTER call for increased government support for community transport has been backed by Ribble Vally Conservative MP Nigel Evans and his Burnley Labour Parliamentary colleague Julie Cooper.

The cross-party House of Commons Transport Committee has urged ministers to drop plans which would force community and charity drivers to get expensive and difficult-to-obtain commercial licenses.

Under the existing legislation special provisions are set out for not-for-profit providers.

These licenses are set to be scrapped for a new system which would require professional training for drivers, leading Mr Evans to fear this be the death knell of the community transport sector due to increasing costs and recruitment difficulties.

Community transport encompasses a wide array of services that commercial operators cannot provide.

They include rural pick-ups, door-to-door care, Dial-a-Ride services, group transport, community car schemes, and minibuses offering specific drops to doctor’s surgeries or the supermarket.

The MPs intervention came as Lancashire County Council consults on proposals to reduce the budget for community transport by £175,000 over two years.

The authority has already scrapped its Burnley Employment Shuttle subsidised taxi service to help the low-paid access work or training.

The Commons Transport Committee calls for a full impact assessment of the knock-on effects of government proposals on core community transport before any new legislation.

It calls for plans to maintain the availability of drivers across the community transport sector including the establishment of a distinct, hybrid category of 'transportonly' organisation with proportionate licensing and driver training requirements.

Mr Evans said: “It is crystal clear that special provisions for community transport should be kept: the vast majority of these facilities are not-for-profit and provide a totally different service to commercial operators – they are not competition.

"It would spell disaster for the Ribble Valley if operators such as the Little Green Bus lost: many elderly people would lose their independence and isolate in rural areas.”

Mrs Cooper, who led a campaign to keep the Burnley Employment Shuttle, said: "We have already seen a massive reduction in the provision of subsidised bus services and these have been sorely missed by people throughout Burnley and Padiham.

"To lose Community Transport on top of this is unthinkable. I have responded to the consultation to oppose any loss of this provision which is for many in the community a lifeline.

"The government must commit to providing the funding via the County Council for these valued services to continue."

Commercial bus operators have recently launched legal actions to overturn the existing 'light-touch' legislative framework for community transport organisations.