Written evidence from D Montague (BUS
57)
1. ABOUT ST
LAWRENCE
St Lawrence Bay is located in a rural area of Essex
on the east coast. It is a rapidly developing village with 1100
adults on the electoral role and approx 175 children.
The population of St Lawrence has increased considerably
over the last 10 years. A new housing estate consisting of some
120 new homes were built in Anchorage View, in addition to development
and expansion of existing properties which has meant that the
village now has an increasing number of young families living
here.
Due to the lack of public transport it is estimated
that 98% of the population have to own and use a car.
In addition the Waterside Caravan Park attracts tourists
to the area during the summer.
2. THE CURRENT
SERVICE
The D1 bus service currently serves St Lawrence but
only goes to Maldon. It takes an hour to get there and only runs
every two hours. The first bus leaves at 9.07 and the last bus
returns from Maldon at 15.55. This restricts the users to those
who are retired wishing to shop in Maldon and does not accommodate
anyone looking to commute to work.
The St Cedds primary school bus acts as a shopper
bus on two days of the week travelling to Southend and Basildon
and this is well used again by those who are retired but it does
not run during the school holidays.
3. SERVICES WE
LACK
— (a) Inability
to access employment - there is no access to work.
— (b) There
is no connection to the rail service at Southminster other than
a commuter bus that leaves at 06.20 and returns from Southminster
at 18.30. The trains have recently been improved to run every
40 minutes as against every hour but we have no transport to Southminster
station.
— (c) Links
to other bus services from Bradwell on sea have delays between
connections from anything between 45 minutes and an hour and there
are no facilities or anywhere to wait.
— (d) No
transport to doctors, which are located at either Tillingham or
Southminster.
— (e) Facilities
such as Opticians, Dentists, Banks are available in Burnham but
those travelling by public transport are restricted to using those
in Maldon.
— (f) Adult
education courses are provided by St Peters High School in the
evenings but there is no transport to Burnham.
— (g) Southminster
is our nearest railway station providing the only transport we
have to South Woodham Ferrers and beyond to Southend, Chelmsford
and London.
— (h) The
local Secondary school is located in Burnham on Crouch yet we
have no public transport to get to Burnham on Crouch. So if they
are unable to catch the school bus for any reason there is no
other means of getting to and from school at any other time. This
means that any after school activities are limited to finishing
by 16.30 or children being collected by parents. This often occurs
when children are involved in attending activities such as sporting
events at other Essex schools and they return after the buses
have left.
— (i) Social
isolation for the young - The Secondary school is attended by
children from Burnham, Southminster and other neighbouring villages
but there is no transport for children to meet up with their friends
either after school, at weekends or during the school holidays.
Whether it is to go shopping in Chelmsford or Southend, visit
London or just meet friends, there is no way the younger generation
can get anywhere independently and without being taken by car.
— (j) Barriers
and restrictions on choice for further education. Proves to be
difficult to choose to study anywhere other than Burnham for A
Levels or BTEC courses.
— (k) Transport
to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford - this entails getting the
current bus to Maldon and changing buses. This would take two
hours in total. The last bus returning leaves at 14.32 and the
journey would take 2 ½ hours unless you wanted to change
buses four times and take three hours in which case you could
leave at 16.06 and arrive back in St Lawrence at 18.56. The 4
½ hour round trip is therefore not an attractive option for
those attending outpatients and definitely not user friendly for
those restricted by visiting hours.
Impact on St Lawrence after the Spending Review
We appreciate that there is no money to spend at
the moment but with the ever increasing cost of fuel and running
costs for cars it seems the ideal time to change the route of
our one and only bus and to encourage more people to use public
transport. Other villages on the current bus route are serviced
by more than one bus and have transport to Southminster. So why
can't St Lawrence?
We need transport to Southminster to provide a link
to the railway line and other bus services such as the 31x to
Chelmsford via Maldon. Southminster is the ideal location to become
the hub for all Dengie Bus services and from here more services
should then be provided direct to the hospital.
We need to encourage good bus-using habits and to
tempt people to use the bus services rather than there cars.
February 2011
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