For those of us who care about sustainable transport, it’s good to see the government is running a consultation, or call for ideas, with a view to developing an Integrated National Transport Strategy. It’s targeted at transport workers, members of the public and organisations, so this is a good opportunity to get your views heard. The deadline is 20 February 2025, so those of us who want to contribute will have to strap our skates on promptly.

For more information, it’s worth seeing what the Campaign for Better Transport has to say, along with their line on Active Travel - Walking, Wheeling and Cycling. Another organisation to check out is Living Streets (formerly The Pedestrians’ Association). It has a long and noble track record, campaigning to make our streets safer, with some key successes along the way, such as the driving test and the provision of pedestrian crossings.

Locally, MCA participated recently in a discussion with key councillors and a senior officer in SMDC on how we could work together on climate issues. It was generally a very helpful and productive meeting but we seemed to get nowhere on providing facilities for cyclists, particularly in town centres, although in theory they support active travel. The usual response is that it’s a county issue but the exact division of responsibilities appears opaque to some of us. Maybe local government reorganisation will change this? If so, perhaps we should be working out exactly what we want, if we aim to encourage more people to cycle actively in Moorlands towns, rather than be confined to cycling as a mere leisure activity. What do you think? Should we have a cycle forum to determine what would be realistic requests? If you agree, please tell us what you think via the contact form below.
Cycle Forum Link

Those of us who have cycled extensively abroad are very aware of well-designed and signposted cycle lanes, which make it clear where cycles have priority over cars. The high point of this is the Dutch-style roundabout - a joy to cycle on for us benighted Brits. We applaud those local authorities who have had the foresight and courage to introduce them in the UK, despite the inevitable controversies caused by unfamiliar layouts and widespread unawareness of changes in the Highway Code that give priority to pedestrians and cyclists at road junctions, as part of the recently established hierarchy of road users. Such roundabouts may not be necessary in small Moorlands towns but better provision for cyclists is still needed, along with better public understanding of the new road user priorities.

Photo credit:  E. Dronkert, Signs of Cycling, Cropped, CC BY 2.0

The results of our summer survey on the Moorlands Connect bus service are now in. Although we weren’t in a position to run a proper passenger survey, we thought it would be useful to ask people away from the bus service if they knew about it, had they used it and what did they think about it.

With that mind, we set up a paper survey at all our stalls, and at other events we attended throughout the summer in a range of different locations. We also set up an electronic version with a click-through from our newsletter and website, although the response to this was very limited.

The results were interesting, although not entirely unexpected. Of the 40 responses, although most had heard of the service, very few (five) had actually used it. However, one of our primary aims was to find out why people were not using it, and the answers were revealing.

Those who had used the service had found it great, others had friends or relatives who benefitted substantially from it and a fair few, who said they had their own transport now, expected that they would probably use it in the future – the terms ‘brilliant’ and ‘excellent’ figured prominently, along with ‘lifesaver’ and ‘vital service’.

Of the barriers to use, primary reasons seem to be: lack of information, difficulty with the booking app, poor internet connectivity (a particular problem in the Moorlands) and a restricted phone service from the bus company.

We appreciate that many of these issues are outside the control of the bus company but we will share the results with Moorlands Connect and particularly with the County Council, who are responsible for county-wide transport.

Click Here for the Full Results

So, the Stoke to Leek Line is no more, axed by the new Labour government as part of a cull of infrastructure projects, which included a road tunnel under Stonehenge and a destructive by-pass around Arundel in Sussex.  No-one would like to see a shift from road to rail more than Moorlands Climate Action, but in truth, few people ever believed reviving this line for passengers was likely, or the best use of scarce public funds.

We have not personally seen the feasibility study prepared by consultants, but this is what we reliably understand it came up with when the numbers were crunched: of the eight options examined, seven delivered poor value for money and just one scraped past muster, being appraised as ‘low’ value. That option was to combine one train per hour between Leek and Stoke with a freight service from the Aggregate Industries cement plant and quarry at Cauldon Low. Even on that basis, the line could not be self-financing, once capital costs were taken into account, but would depend on public money (the cost of which has risen since the study was completed).

Read more: Waiting For A Train That Was Never Going To Come

We've been thrilled to see that the area covered by Moorlands Connect has been extended and there's a new scheduled Sunday service from Leek to Buxton, taking in the tourist hotspots along the way. However, we understand that there are still some problems with the app, which is outside of the bus company's direct control. So, do ring them if the app doesn't work for you.

We're still running our public survey to try to augment our understanding of the barriers to usage and have been taking it to all our public events. If you haven't yet had a chance to complete it, you can do it online, so do please take part if you haven't already done so or even if you haven't used the service. Your reasons for not doing so will still be informative. Even better, share it with your friends. Thanks!

Click Here for the Survey

The County Council came to the Moorlands in April to explain the Ten-Year Transport Review to councillors, specifically to talk about buses. Four officers made the trek from Stafford to the land that public transport (almost) forgot and we have to admit that they came impressively prepared with facts and figures. At times it felt like being a housewife (it was always a housewife) in 1970’s Leningrad – scanning the shelves for that elusive bunch of bananas or, if they were lucky, grapes. If the County cupboard wasn’t completely bare, it has to be said the pickings were scarce. Most County bus money is spent on propping up existing services on which, as across most of the country, passenger numbers have not fully recovered from the Covid epidemic. But like that Leningrad housewife, we do not give up – and know that in times of scarcity, information is the most precious commodity.

The April meeting was arranged by Cllrs Charlotte Atkins and Mark Johnson as an introduction but the County officers and have said they will be returning to the Moorlands in June or July. At that point we might be able to put more detailed proposals forward to the County. While we can’t expect a major shift towards buses, we definitely can achieve some improvements at the edges. A new service now connects Biddulph and Kidsgrove, allowing people (including students) to link with rail services into Stoke and elsewhere. The officers said that numbers using this service were encouraging – and still rising.

Read more: On the Buses

This is a crucial year for buses in the Moorlands. The County’s 10-year Transport Plan Review started publicly in January and is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. The County had previously failed to attract additional funding for buses from central government because its previous Bus Improvement Strategy was deemed inadequate. Alongside this, the County is waiting for confirmation (expected in April) of extra new money from Network North from the cancellation of HS2.

Many people complain about the poor level of bus services, but without a proper case being put to the County it is unlikely that we will see substantial extra investment in our district. SMDC Councillor Charlotte Atkins has now written to the County asking that officers come to the Moorlands to hear our case. She has since received agreement that there will be a meeting in the district for just that purpose. The date, precise location and nature of that meeting has yet to be set, but this is a step forward from previous years when, despite promises of a ‘rural bus revolution’ there was little tangible evidence of any detailed engagement except on the subject of Moorlands Connect.

Buses are crucial in the push for decarbonisation of the district. With the growth in car use, and the rapid growth in renewables in the UK’s energy generation system, transport is now the stand-out component of the country’s emissions profile. The decline in bus services has been more severe in Staffordshire Moorlands than almost anywhere else in England, as the accompanying map from the University of Leeds/Transport Action Network dramatically illustrates.

The central role of buses in decarbonisation was underlined by County officers when they introduced the 10-year Transport Review. This is a summary of what they said:

Read more: Driving Buses Forward in the Moorlands?