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| Lancashire County Councillors deciding to give more money to buses! |
The Government's new-found enthusiasm for buses appears to have trickled down to Lancashire County Council.
In recent weeks the government announced firstly a one-off grant of £750k+ to Lanacshire to improve existing services or start new ones, followed closely by announcement of a fund of £5 billion for buses and cycling projects thoughout England (outside London), of which Lancashire could receive up to £15m. (read again here)
Now, in a last-minute amendment to their own budget, the ruling group on Lancashire County Council has announced an increase of £1.5m in its bus service support budget for 2020/21 and a further £3m in each of the two following years.
The £1.5m for the financial year starting in April is additonal to the government's £750k and means that spending on bus services in Lancashire will rise from £3m to £5.25m in 2020/21. This still leaves it short of the £7m being spent annually before 2016 but it will go a long way to repair the damage caused to the local bus network in recent years.
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| Rural services could be amongst those to be improved. |
The County Council has agreed to consider proposals from the Bus Users' Group as to how the additional money should be spent and we will be submitting these in the next few days. Details of what we are asking for will be published on our webiste when they have been finalised.
In a few short weeks, the outlook for supported bus services throughout Lancashire has been transformed. It is essential that Lancaster District receives its fair share of the extra money, but rest assured - the Bus Users' Group is on the case.
