WEEKLY column by Thornbury and Yate MP Claire Young.

In a rural area like ours, our buses play a key role in providing access to work, education and health.

We’ve seen cutback after cutback, fuelled by funding cuts from successive governments in Westminster. But now it’s reaching crisis point.

Many of our communities no longer have a regular bus, leaving them unable to get to their GP, to work, to school and college, or even just to the shops.

Previous cuts left Thornbury without a bus to places like Southmead, Cribbs Causeway and Parkway and turned rural villages into bus deserts.

The cuts by the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) that come into force this weekend are devastating for the communities affected, leaving Chipping Sodbury with just a single bus an hour, and leaving even more villages without a bus at all.

Since being elected in July, I have made protecting our remaining services a top priority. I promoted a petition to South Gloucestershire Council and met the Managing Directors of both First Bus West and Stagecoach West to discuss what can be done.

As a result, we have made a bit of progress. I secured an agreement from Stagecoach not to revise the 86’s route, which would have seen Coalpit Heath, Ram Hill and Greenacres Park cut off, and they’ve agreed to continue the current route for now.

But individual interventions are not enough, that is why I have also written to the WECA Mayor, Dan Norris, to ask for a meeting to discuss how we can pool our resources to protect important rural routes.

Sadly, this request has been met with a stoney silence.

This issue is too complex for any one body to deal with alone.

That’s why I am pushing for urgent top-level talks with all who oversee and fund buses across our towns and villages, to come up with a joint plan to ensure that between everyone they ensure no one is left cut off.