Bim Afolami MP, the Member of Parliament for Hitchin & Harpenden, has written to Hertfordshire County Council after the Government launched a new funding opportunity for rural communities to benefit from new greener buses.
It comes as the Government confirmed that £129m will be available to local Councils in England as part of the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) 2 scheme. The first £25m of that funding is earmarked for rural communities – recognising that delivering the necessary infrastructure for greener buses in rural areas can be more expensive. During the first phase of the ZEBRA scheme, 1,300 zero emission buses were funded – helping to meet the Government’s target of funding 4,000 zero emission buses.
In his letter to County Council Leader Cllr. Richard Roberts, Mr Afolami urged the Council to take advantage of the scheme to deliver improvements to bus services in rural parts of his Hitchin & Harpenden constituency.
Bim Afolami MP said,
“We all want to make Hitchin, Harpenden and the villages a more connected, cleaner place to live. This new funding for zero emission buses has the potential to help to achieve exactly that – allowing for the additional provision of bus services for our villages, making it easier for people to get around and to do so in a way that is environmentally friendly. That in turn helps us to tackle the air pollution in our area – particularly exacerbated by congestion and traffic emissions in Hitchin.
“I hope that the County Council will agree to work with me to seize the opportunity that this funding presents for our communities.”
