Latest News & Events

COMMUNITY TRANSPORT URGENT APPEAL FOR SUPPORT

COMMUNITY TRANSPORT URGENT APPEAL FOR SUPPORT

North Coast Community Transport

RE: Rural Dial-A-Lift Service under Threat!

I am writing to inform you that the Department for Infrastructure has advised North Coast Community Transport that there is no guarantee of funding beyond the end of April 2023 for the delivery of our Rural Dial A Lift Service.   I appreciate this will come as quite a shock to you, your organisation and your service users who are also our members and who depend on our transport to get them to your venue, service and activities.  We understand how important and valuable your service is to their lives. The communication from the Department has come as an enormous shock to us as an organisation.

Due to the lack of certainty regarding funding and the potential impact this news has on our organisation and its service delivery ‘on the ground’, there is the risk of a disruption to services throughout April and a potential end of our transport services from 1st May 2023.

We are working very closely with the Community Transport Association, our sister Rural Community Transport Partnerships, local politicians and the wider community and voluntary sector to lobby the Department for Infrastructure to ensure that adequate funding is retained so that we can continue to run this crucial service and guarantee the sustainability of it into the future.

We want to reassure you that as an organisation we will do everything within our power to ensure that our service for our members is retained, but we need your help with our campaign!   If you can help us by perhaps contacting our local MLAs, your senior managers and directors and letting them know how important this service is to your organisation and your individual users and why it needs to be saved.

We are tremendously aware of the value and importance of our service to your members and the hundreds of other people from across the Causeway Coast & Glens borough council and old Ballymena Council area for whom there are few or any other alternatives to our service.   This year alone has seen us deliver 40,000 trips for our 1000 plus members, helping them get access to basic and essential services which are life changing and transformative for them.  Our service is a ‘life-line service’.  

We wish to do everything we can to reduce any anxiety and stress this news will cause our members/ passengers and their loved ones.  It is right and proper that we share this situation with you in a spirit of transparency and honesty and in our shared interest and concern for our members, so that you are fully aware of the current situation, and that you are prepared for the potential deep anxiety, stress and worry which this news may give rise to.  Further, it will be important for your organisation to consider planning and preparation of appropriate mitigation measures which may need to be deployed should the worst-case scenario materialise i.e., no funding is forthcoming from the Department for Infrastructure for community transport for the financial year 2023 to 2024.

The more people and organisations we have to support our campaign, the more chance we have of succeeding.  Please help us to secure this ‘Life-Line’ service.

 

We will keep you informed of any updates as soon as we become aware of them.