What is a transport desert?

A ‘transport desert’ is a settlement which is inadequately served by public transport in a way that is likely to limit choices and opportunities for the people who live there. Living in a ‘transport desert’ means that you’re reliant on travelling by car for your day-to-day life. For instance, you might not have access to a train line for getting to work; there might be no bus you can take to pick up shopping; or there might not be enough services to allow you to get to a GP appointment on time.

In Nottinghamshire, there are some good bus services, for example in Nottingham. But there are other rural areas where buses are few and far between or even non-existent.

CPRE wants everyone to have genuine, sustainable travel choices, keeping cars off the road and pollution out of the atmosphere. That’s why we are working hard to advocate for local transport improvements, improving connectivity and reducing loneliness, isolation and access for everyone. It’s why CPRE has produced a report calling for every village to have one bus every hour and the scale of investment we need to make this vision a reality.

CPRE wants to mount a campaign to address this issue in our own county of Nottinghamshire. To do this effectively, we need to assemble evidence of the present shortfalls and the needs that should be met.

To help do this, our plan is to survey Parish Councils, villages, people around the county to gather evidence to enable us to base our campaign on telling facts. Watch this space for further details.