Buses should be
 just the ticket

WITH the cost of motoring now beyond the financial reach of many families, and rush-hour trains dangerously overcrowded, this should be a golden era for bus travel in Yorkshire.

Yet the fact that close to a fifth of workers have turned down a job, according to research previously undertaken by the University of Leeds, because of the poor quality of bus services suggests that there are fundamental faults that have been overlooked for too long. This needs to be reversed.

This is not an issue of snobbery – commuters in London continue to use the capital’s buses in record numbers. Nor is it one of cost – huge sums have been spent in Leeds and elsewhere building a network of bus lanes so more services can run on time.

The simple fact of the matter is that there needs to be a clearer correlation between the wishes of local authorities and the services provided by private bus operators.

This is why buses are prospering in the capital according to new research published today by the respected IPPR think-tank – Transport for London has the power to determine services.

Contrast this with the rest of the country, Yorkshire included, where some areas – both urban and rural – enjoy a token bus service which does not reflect the needs of working people, while rival operators compete for business on the Harrogate to Wetherby route, for example.

Of course, there needs to be realism. In the current financial climate, it is simply not possible to sustain a round-the-clock service on every route; difficult decisions do need to be taken. But this should not preclude local authorities from having a far greater say over bus timetables, and particularly in those areas which are inadequately served at present. After all, it is supposed to a public service and a thriving bus network should be able to ease the pressure on the region’s roads and railways.

Who is in charge?

The £150,000 police consultant

IF WEST Yorkshire Police is so short of money, why has it recruited a former colleague of suspended chief constable Mark Gilmore to oversee cuts of £100m? This is the key question that needs reconciling after it emerged that Roy Toner, a former Assistant Chief Constable in Northern Ireland where Mr Gilmore worked previously, would be paid up to £150,000 via his consultancy firm which provides “strategic advice for transformational change programmes”.

Leaving aside the corporate jargon and also the procurement questions arising from the force’s decision not to advertise the contract concerned, there will be incredulity that the West Yorkshire force does not already employ senior officers – or civilians – with the necessary expertise, and local knowledge, to deliver the proposed efficiency savings without compromising public safety.

Yes, there has been a number of staff upheavals within West Yorkshire’s ranks – and Mr Gilmore’s suspension does not help matters – but many will not regard this as justification for the appointment of an outside consultant, however experienced, when police and crime commissioners were created at great expense by Home Secretary Theresa May to provide local leadership and accountability.

Instead West Yorkshire taxpayers find themselves asking just who is in charge of their force? Is it senior officers? Is it Mark Burns-Williamson, the crime commissioner? Or is it Mr Toner, whose fees could, in fact, be used to pay the salaries of several beat bobbies? The public interest demands answers that are more satisfactory than the explanations offered to date.

National treasure

Tributes to Dickie Attenborough

AS TALENTED in front of the camera as behind it, British stage and screen owes an incalculable debt to Richard Attenborough – Dickie to his friends – who died just days before his 91st birthday. Without his verve, versatility and vision, this country would be much the poorer from a cultural perspective.

Yet Lord Attenborough will go down in history as one of the greatest ever Britons because of his creativity and empathy with people from all walks of life – one reason why his epic biographical film Gandhi, and its cast of 250,000 extras, swept the board at the Oscars in 1982.

A natural story-teller, it helped that Lord Attenborough idolised the late Nelson Mandela and it is this humanity towards others that shone through in each and every one of his cinematic blockbusters. The word “irreplaceable” may sound slightly trite in this era of celebrity gratification but no other description comes close to doing justice to a national treasure whose like will never be seen again.