Transport project gives wheels to Ilfracombe

The North Devon Volunteering Development Agency has been awarded just under £80,000 by LEADER+ for a two-year project that will bring the buses run by the Ilfracombe and District Community Transport Association (IDCTA) and the car scheme run by the North Devon Volunteering Development Agency (NDVDA) together under a single booking system managed by a new Transport Co-ordinator.

The Transport Co-ordinator will be working to ensure that both buses and cars are being used to best effect, with the aim to set up new services and make transport available to more people and groups than ever before. The Co-ordinator will also be researching the transport needs of the area and developing new transport schemes to get people mobile.

NDVDA and IDCTA put together the successful funding bid with help from Transform, the Neighbourhood Management Programme, which also provided £5000 in match-funding. The remaining match-funding will come from the volunteer driver hours, money raised by the IDCTA to buy a new bus and the volunteer hours spent running the booking call centre.

The project will be led by a steering group which will include representatives from IDCTA, NDVDA, Ilfracombe Town Council and Transform. Other voluntary transport organisations in the area are being invited to become partners in the project – they will be able to benefit from the single booking system and join the steering group, while maintaining their own funding and identity.