Sir – The county council, district councils and those responding to the current consultation on the removal of some and possibly all of the subsidised bus services should bear in mind that the proposed cuts are occurring at the same time as the various local plans are providing for about 85,000 new jobs and100,000 houses over the next 15 years.

This ‘objectively assessed need’ relies on a growth estimate made by the Local Enterprise Partnership which includes political leaders from all local councils, but is subject to the provision of adequate infrastructure.

A transport system that includes bus services which are currently unable to meet the needs of local residents and businesses is now being made worse. The prospect of the planned housing and job growth being sustainable in environmental, social and economic terms, as is required by national planning guidance, is receding.

If future growth is to be sustainable, financial contributions from the new housing in the form of New Homes Bonus should be added to the Community Infrastructure Levy and/ or planning gain payments to be invested by the county council to enable traffic conditions to improve and not worsen.Where adequate financial contributions are not forthcoming from developments to pay for necessary infrastructure (possibly due to artificially inflated land prices) then planning permission should be refused.

Cuts to bus services have to be resisted, not at the expense of other services provided by the county council, but by ensuring that all new developments make payments sufficient to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development – identified by Mr Greg Clark, Mr Eric Pickles’ replacement as Communities Secretary -–as the ‘purpose of the planning system’. The presumption that operates in favour of sustainable development cannot apply to new housing being made unsustainable by contracting bus services.

Daniel Scharf
Drayton, nr Abingdon