A JEWELLER has appealed to the Houses of Parliament for better transport links in rural communities like the North York Moors.

Carolyn Frank, who owns Libby Butler Jewellers in Helmsley, highlighted the issues around public transport in front of 20 MPs following a report by the Rural Affairs and Tourism Committee at Federation of Small Businesses Policy on the deterioration of roads and transport.

The report by the FSB showed half of small businesses believe the UK’s roads and public transport system have got worse in recent years.

Ms Frank, a member of the Rural Affair and Tourism Committee at FSB, told MPs that bus timetabling is not suitable for businesses, making it difficult for employees to use them to get to and from work.

She said devolution is a concern to rural areas, as city regions will not have an interest in smaller towns like Helmsley.

She is also concerned about poor road maintenance, with many in remote areas barely left with any kind of road surface after years of neglect.

FSB found small businesses are overwhelmingly reliant on roads, with nine in 10 firms – 89 per cent - placing high value on the network.

Rural businesses are even more likely to rely on roads as they often report little or no access to public transport links like rail or buses.

Ms Frank, who is also chairman of the Helmsley in Business group, said: “It was fantastic to be able to take these issues directly to Neil Parish MP, chair of EFRA, and at least 20 others.

“I really felt that rural areas like the North York Moors are high on the national agenda, and the MPS present understood how important the contribution of rural areas is to the national economy.”

The full FSB report can be found at: http://www.fsb.org.uk/docs/default-source/fsb-org-uk/fsb-rural-transport.pdf?sfvrsn=0.