MORE than one million Scots are at risk of transport poverty, which would leave them without access to essential services or work, a study has shown.

A study by sustainable transport charity Sustrans Scotland found that up to 20 per cent of neighbourhoods studied were at risk of transport poverty occurring.

And the areas at higher risk were far more likely to be in accessible small towns (28 per cent) or accessible rural locations (30 per cent) than in remote parts of the country. Entitled Transport Poverty In Scotland the report has been released at the start of Challenge Poverty Week.

The research used data on household income, access to cars and public transport, and allocated risk ratings accordingly.

“We need a planning system that puts necessary services where people live,” said Sustrans Scotland national director John Lauder. “People should be able to access shops, schools, healthcare and some places of work within a short distance without the need for a car.”

Peter Kelly, director of the Poverty Alliance added: “Too many people living on low incomes have inadequate access to public transport, and other forms of transport sometimes seem out of reach.

A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “We have invested more than £217 million in active travel since the start of the 2011 spending review, including this year, and, as announced in the Programme for Government, we have doubled the active travel budget from £40 million to £80m a year from 2018-19.”