OTHER ways to fund ‘an essential service for the most vulnerable people’ must be found if it is to continue.

The chair of Holsworthy Rural Community Transport (HRCT), Martin Prentice, attended last week’s meeting of the town council to stress that although the charity has been successful in being awarded Big Lottery funding of £323,484, there is still a shortfall of around £400,000 for the five-year period covered by the lottery funding.

He said: “We have had a third successful Big Lottery grant of £323,000 over the next five years, which was fantastic news, and you could be forgiven for thinking that community transport has been set-up for life.

“However putting this into context the budget requirement for this five years is £746,000. So even with this lottery money we still need to generate £85,000 each year from grants, other funding bids, and income from services.”

He explained part of the lottery money will be used to provide the role of a part-time community development worker to promote the service to town councils, parish councils and community groups.

He said in the year 2015/2016 town and parish councils have made grants totalling £1,430, and so far in this financial year they have had grants totalling £800, including £500 from Holsworthy Town Council, for which, he said, they are ‘very grateful’.

Mr Prentice, who is also treasurer and fundraiser for HRCT, informed councillors of the background to the charity.

He said: “In 1999, Torridge District Council and Devon County Council led by Des Shadrick recognised the poor state of public transport in the area and decided ring and ride was the best way forward.”

The North Tamar Community Transport Association was formed, now known as HRCT.

Mr Prentice said statistics show the numbers using ring and ride are going down, adding: “I guess that’s not a surprise. People are getting older and have health problems.

“Devon County Council did a profile population projection for Holsworthy. They are predicting that in the next five years there will be an increase of 15.8% in the 45 to 64 age group, 51.2 % increase in those over 65 and the largest increase is in the 70 to 74 group at 63.2% — so it looks as though the numbers will be going up again soon.

“This is an absolutely essential service for the most vulnerable people, many of whom live in deeply rural areas, many live alone, are elderly, have health problems and suffer from social exclusion and depression, and ring and ride helps with all of these things.

“We need to find other ways to fund this service if it is to continue and perhaps councils will have to make better financial provision as it is certain there will be no more lottery funding.

“We need more people to use the service, we need more drivers for the minibuses, more volunteer drivers to get people to appointments and a few more trustees to help run the organisation.”

Referring to the statement that the charity would not receive any further Big Lottery funding in the future, Cllr John Allen said: “It’s a shame, because it’s not self-sustainable.”

Mr Prentice added: “This will never be sustainable. It’s a subsidised service. We are not charging commercial rates, we are providing for those who are socially and economically deprived.”

With Big Lottery funding six years ago, the charity bought two buses — one as a recovery vehicle and one that could carry out longer journeys. With a recent successful bid to the Department for Transport, the charity has just taken delivery of two new buses — one to replace the ring and ride bus and the other to provide a town shuttle service, which is hoped will start soon.

The charity’s minibuses are available to hire by local groups, sports teams and charities. Mr Prentice said minibus hire has ‘rocketed’, from six hires in the first year to 100 last year.

The charity also runs a volunteer car service, and He said these journeys are running at about 1,000 a year — this scheme has taken passengers as far as Bristol.

The organisation has five drivers, a couple of relief drivers and two part-time office staff. There is a board of six trustees who meet at six weekly intervals to oversee activities. There are three client representatives at the meetings who give feedback on the service.

Conservative Devon County Councillor for Holsworthy Rural, Barry Parsons, praised the work of HRCT: “I think that team do a wonderful job. I don’t know anyone better than Martin for actually raising funds. He’s done a remarkable job over the years.

“The recent allocation from the lottery has been really the icing on the cake. In terms of the age factor, we are an ageing population and we need to make preparation for that. If anyone can get involved with this, please do.”

For more information on the charity, visit www.holsworthyruraltransport.co.uk, call 01409 259001 or email [email protected]