►► Greater Anglia introduced an inclusive bus and train ticket in September for rail users to travel from Audley End station to Saffron Walden which lost its rail station in 1964 as a result of the Beeching cuts ◀◀

Britain’s rail lines and stations, once savaged by Beeching, are enjoying a renaissance but now a similar process is taking place throughout the country attacking bus services, with virtually no democratic input.

Local authorities are contemplating drastic reductions in their tendered bus network and some have already axed many supported bus services.

This “Beeching on the Buses” is happening by stealth and is not the fault of any one evil genius, according to Professor Paul Salveson of Huddersfield University.

“It is the cumulative effect of cuts in local government finance combined with a lack of imagination among bus operators, local authorities and Government,” he said.

“We should not be standing by seeing the destruction of rural bus networks. Demand-responsive minibus services are fine as complementary facilities to scheduled services but they are not a replacement.”

He believes some of the creativity that has gone into community rail needs to be applied to bus services, with the remit of at least some community rail partnerships extended into bus operations.

He added: “It is time to take some risks and look at integrating bus and rail services in rural areas so we can get them working as a single network. Do that, and at the same time apply community rail approaches to the buses, and you could start to see a gradual revival. Otherwise, the situation on the buses will be grim.”

Research by the Campaign for Better Transport shows that 47 per cent of local authorities in England and Wales cut spending on buses in 2013. Councils in England cut £17 million from their bus support grants in 2013 and announced cuts of £48 million in years to come.

Southend, Darlington and Hartlepool councils have already ended all support for bus services and CBT predicts others will follow.

Shropshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, West Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, West Sussex, Wiltshire, Dorset and Gloucestershire have cut their support by more than 10 per cent.

CBT’s Martin Abrams said: “This is a watershed moment. Cuts to bus services are reaching critical levels. If Government does not take action to help support buses, we will see whole networks disappear.”

Peter Box, chairman of the Local Government Association economy and transport board, told The Times in December: “Councils know how important local bus services are to their communities and have been working hard to protect them where possible. However, they are contending with 43% budget cuts.”