2:00pm Saturday 23rd January 2010
Publicly-funded bus services are to be cut in Brighton and Hove under plans by the Tory controlled council.
Bus routes serving Westdene, Hangleton and East Brighton are under threat as well as some school routes.
The Conservative controlled council wants to slash the amount of public subsidy given to Brighton and Hove Buses by 15% and save £200,000.
The move will do nothing to change critics’ perception of the Brighton and Hove Tories as being staunchly pro-car.
Gill Mitchell, Labour's opposition leader on Brighton and Hove City Council, said she would raise the matter at the next full council meeting.
She added: “The Conservatives profess to support public transport in the city but their proposed cuts will affect several services, including those in the Westdene, Hangleton and East Brighton areas.
“In order for their cuts to come into force from April 1, legal notification of the contract terminations should have been issued to the bus company by now. I will be asking which contracts are to be terminated and exactly which bus services will suffer as a result.”
Roger French, managing director of Brighton and Hove Buses, said the council had been consulting with his firm before Christmas but had heard nothing since.
He said: “It would be unfortunate in light of the recent decision by the other parties to vote to have a public transport strategy back on the agenda for the city.
“It would be anomalous to have a strategy saying the council wants to promote public transport and then having cuts in public transport.
“It would have a huge impact on those passengers who rely on these supported services.”
A spokesman for the Conservative group told The Argus the bus subsidy would be cut because the council currently pays more per head on subsidy than other local authorities.
He could not say which routes would be axed if the cuts were approved.
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