"THERE'S lots of money out there and we can access it to improve public transport."

That's the rallying call from Natalie Warriner to urge the public to attend a meeting next month to thrash out public transport in the Pickering area.

This is not just a call for local councils or organisations to attend, but for folk who find it difficult to get about with current public transport.

The conference has been organised by the Pickering Area Partnership and is to be held in Pickering Memorial Hall on April 13.

"Unless people come to tell us what they need we can't succeed," said Natalie Warriner, speaking for the partnership. "And there are pots of gold we can access - why should the rest of the country tap into these funds and not the Pickering area?"

"We Can Get You There" is the title of the day-long session underlining the fact that the way to improve public transport is to establish the needs and organise plans.

Villages in the partnership include Aislaby, Middleton, Wrelton, Allerston, Wilton, Cropton, Ebberston, Yedingham, Hartoft, Levisham, Lockton, Marishes, Newton-upon-Rawcliffe, Pickering, East and West Rosedale, Sinnington and Thornton-le-Dale.

"Anybody who needs to make a journey is encouraged to attend this conference," said Natalie Warrriner. "We need to share local knowledge and expertise, identify local community needs and develop local community action plans."

She said some of the areas to consider are a 'wheels to work' scheme for young people in rural areas to get to training and employment; a mini-bus brokerage and a taxi voucher scheme "which I hope in due course will take the place of tokens lost this financial year".

"We will be looking at ways of working in partnership with Ryedale District Council to utilise its Rural Transport Fund, along with accessing funds from the Countryside Agency.

"We need to look at improved and expanded public bus services and how we can utilise other transport providers to enable people to get from A to B and encourage public service providers to key into each other so timetables match up."

There is no charge for the April 13 meeting in Pickering Memorial Hall, which will run from 9.30am-3.30pm, including sandwiches and tea.

Updated: 09:38 Thursday, March 21, 2002