Tendring Community Assets Full Final Report

41 10.2.8 For the Tendring transport schemes which own their own bus/fleet, there is always the challenge of long-term funding and maintenance of vehicles, along with replacement plans for older vehicles to ensure that they are safe and fit for purpose. Some have to complement their income by making their buses available to schools, taking them away from community outreach availability. There are also the challenges of recruitment and retention, security clearance and recruitment and training of volunteers to ensure that high and safe standards continue to be met. 10.2.9 This extract from an evidence review sums up our findings: “The most difficult needs to meet are the diverse recreational and social needs of the different sectors of the rural population, both young and old. Encouraging the development of voluntary organisations that could utilise public vehicles outside of school/work hours offers some scope for enhancing social interaction, but reliance on volunteer drivers can limit hours of operation, and a community transport approach based on volunteers and inconsistent grant funding is unlikely to compensate for decreased public transport services (House of Commons Transport Committee, 2014). There may be some scope for the consideration of public subsidy to pay for qualified drivers to operate schemes outside of working hours to enhance social interaction, but again this requires deeper investigation.....” 38 10.2.10 A report by the Campaign for Better Transport 39 concluded, among other issues:  Improving transport services and making them affordable and accessible addresses social exclusion.  Those on low incomes are more reliant on bus services with half of the poorest fifth of the population not having a car, rising to more than two thirds of j ob seekers Those on low incomes may also be less able to take advantage of cheaper bus or train fare deals which involve paying sums up front  Low income communities tend to have higher exposure to the negative impacts of transport, facing greater risk of being killed or seriously injured on the roads, higher levels of air pollution leading to greater risk of premature death, and also lower levels of social interaction due to higher traffic levels affecting the level of contact between neighbours and others in the community. 10.2.11 Tendring is not alone but it is among those rural areas where transport can enable reduction in loneliness and isolation, therefore keeping Community Transport and Volunteers Car Driver schemes going is a lifeline for many and may improve wellbeing for those for whom it is not available. 11 CRIME AND COMMUNITY SAFETY 11.1 Essex Insight’s Profile of Tendring 2016 states that fewer Tendring residents feel safe during the day or after dark than those in the rest of Essex. 40 Citizen Insight  79% of adults in Tendring say they feel safe during the day, the third lowest district figure and below the Essex average of 85%.  41% say they feel safe after dark, lower than the county average of 49%.  40% of adults are satisfied with safety on the roads, just below the county average of 42%. Source: Residents Survey 2015 11.2 There are many risk factors that increase the likelihood of offending and other poor outcomes. These include: attitudes to crime, risk taking behaviour, substance misuse, 38 What works in tackling rural poverty,: an evidence review of Interventions to Improve Transport in Rural Areas, John Powell, Dan Keech and Matt Reed, Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire, March 2018 39 Transport, accessibility and social exclusion, Campaign for Better Transport, July 2012 40 A profile of people living in Tendring, Essex Local Authority portraits, ECC, April 2016,