THE PENSIONS Minister has called for bus services to be regulated to ensure rural Westcountry routes remain active, so older residents are not cut off from towns and cities.

Angela Eagle told a Senior Council for Devon conference that bus operators should be forced to keep running crucial services, even if they are not profitable.

It came as John Hart, leader of Devon County Council, issued a "use it or lose it" warning over bus transport, saying the authority could not afford to subsidise every route.

Rural transport was among a range of issues affecting older people discussed at the Everyone's Tomorrow conference at Exeter's Matford Centre yesterday.

One of the key recurring areas of concern was the Westcountry's increasingly ageing population, at a time when community pubs, post offices and shops are closing by the dozen.

Ms Eagle, MP for Wallasey in Merseyside, believes communities must help themselves by opening volunteer-run stores, and making their voices heard at all levels. But she is also lobbying for a change in law, after the "disaster" of bus deregulation in the mid 80s.

She told the meeting it was crucial to have smaller, more flexible bus services, adding: "Of course you can't have a huge double decker bus in many rural routes, but we want to be able to order bus companies to prevent more decline from rural areas, and ensure buses run at particular times when they are needed.

"At the moment, bus companies are deregulated, but I think we should change that so we can procure those services whether they are profitable or not."

Ms Eagle pointed out the Government had introduced free bus passes for the over 60s to try to tackle the issue, but added: "I recognise that if there are no busses, a senior bus pass isn't a lot of help."

Coun Hart warned residents of rural communities were "their own worst enemies", using supermarkets instead of local businesses, leading to them closing.

He said the council could not support all rural bus services, particularly those where companies were asking for larger subsidies because they were underused.

"I tell everyone, if you have a bus service, use it or you will lose it," he said.

Ms Eagle also told the 200 delegates that the Government planned to outlaw age discrimination by 2012, with a review currently going through Parliament. She particularly cited some travel insurers who refuse to cover the elderly.

And she announced from April, carers will be able to claim credits in the national contribution to the basic state pension.

Ms Eagle called for more positive elderly role models in the media, and said: "Older people are fed up of being characterised as a burden – as people who have lived their lives and should get out of the way and let others get on with it."

Also on the agenda, as part of a Question Time-style debate broadcast live on BBC Radio Devon, were the bid for political home rule in Exeter, broadband access and petrol prices.

Health services were discussed, with Rebecca Harriot, deputy chief executive of NHS Devon, joining Coun Hart and Ms Eagle on the panel, along with Eileen Wragg, shadow spokesman on pensioner's issues on the county council.

Yesterday's meeting was attended by a large contingent of the Devon Pensioners' Action Forum, who campaign to have council tax abolished. Ms Eagle said there were always "winners and losers" when a system was changed, and it was down to individual councils to help older people.