Rural Action Wanted
Page 35
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MANY rural bus proprietors were literally hanging on in extremely unfavourable financial circumstances waiting for the Minister of Transport to do something about rural transport. said Mr. Nicholas Ridley (Tory, Cirencester and Tewkesbury) in the Commons this week, The proposed surveys were welcome, he commented, hut what was needed was action. Mr. Ridley asked for a pledge that the Minister would bring in a scheme as soon as possible in case the whole system of rural transport collapsed. That was exactly what the Ministry was doing, replied Mr. Marples, but first he had to have experience " on the ground ". The difficulty was to find the right .answer. Answering a later question. ViceAdmiral Hughes-Hallett, the Parliamentary Secretary, said that the time taken for the practical experiments in rural transport would depend on the ways in which the department could experiment in each area. This would be settled through local consultations, he said.