A west Dorset town is at risk of becoming a ‘transport desert’, a study has shown.

The research from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) says that many of England’s rural towns are plagued by bad public transport connectivity, leading to them being at risk of becoming ‘transport deserts’.

Bridport, as well as other Dorset towns, including Gillingham and Swanage, were found to be at risk while towns including Shaftesbury, St Leonards and Wimborne Minster scored poorly enough to be declared ‘transport deserts’.

Crispin Truman, chief executive at CPRE, said: “A thriving countryside depends on well-connected small towns and villages serviced by low carbon public transport that fit into people’s everyday lives.

“But it is clear that, outside of England’s major cities, communities are being left high and dry in ever widening ‘transport deserts’ with completely inadequate bus and train connections.

“And this is having dramatic effect on rural communities – young people are compelled to move away, older people are left isolated and lonely, while less affluent families can be sucked into a cycle of debt and poverty.

“CPRE is calling on the government to act now to reconnect everyone with proper public transport options. That means establishing a dedicated rural transport fund. But recent government funding to re-open some railway lines across the country does not go nearly far enough – especially in the shadow of the 28.8 billion planned spend on roads. If the prime minister and this Government are serious about ‘spreading opportunity to every corner of the UK’ we need decisive action to stop the march of ‘transport deserts’.”

To assess the settlements’ risk of being a transport desert, the study provided a scoring system that allocates points based on the variety and frequency of available transport at both peak and off-peak times.

To achieve a ‘green’ (satisfactory) score, a large town needed to score 11 points and a smaller town needed nine.

Those that got an ‘amber’ (risk) score - which included Bridport, Gillingham and Swanage - scored between seven and 10 for large towns and five and eight for small towns.

Transport deserts were given a ‘red’ score of six points or fewer for large towns and four points of fewer for small towns.