Cheshire East Council has expressed its disappointment at missing out on UK government funding to help transform local bus services.
Earlier this week, the government announced that 31 counties, city regions and unitary authorities had been chosen for funding to level up their local bus services as part of Whitehall’s ‘Bus Back Better’ transformation programme.
Cheshire East was not included in the announcement, despite having submitted a funding bid to the Department for Transport, containing “ambitious plans to transform bus services across the borough”.
The Cheshire East Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) set out proposals to work with local communities, public transport users and local bus operators to secure services and deliver transformational change across the network.
Read more: Major funding boost for bus travel in Brighton & Hove
The plan sought to deliver better quality, more reliable and more frequent buses, with simpler, integrated ticketing between bus routes and other public transport.
Councillor Craig Browne, chair of Cheshire East Council’s highways and transport committee, said: “This is a deeply disappointing blow to the council’s ambition to transform the borough’s bus network.
Read more: Portsmouth buses get £48m investment
“We submitted an ambitious plan to improve the speed, reliability and quality of public transport, so that it would help encourage more residents to choose the bus, make fewer car journeys, reduce the demand for parking and improve our air quality. Unfortunately, our request has fallen on deaf ears.
“The bus network in Cheshire East is facing a number of challenges due to a long-term structural decline in passengers – including a 24% fall in passenger journeys since 2011 – compounded by recent loss of custom during the Covid-19 pandemic, staff shortages and exceptionally high costs inflation affecting fuel and wages.
Read more: York awarded £17m for local bus services
“Without the investment needed to deliver our improvement plan, I fear we are likely to see a further decline in the availability of bus services in Cheshire East.”
The current bus offer in Cheshire East is delivered across 54 bus routes and operated by nine bus companies. Of these 54 bus routes, 23 are either wholly or part subsidised by the council, which equates to approximately £2.1m a year.
