Lawrence Marzouk's article on concessionary travel (The Argus, November 22) correctly describes the extreme concern being felt in Brighton and Hove about the overspend on the current Sussex-wide concessionary bus travel scheme, a scheme that was originally underfunded by government with the taxpayer being left to pick up extra costs of £1.2 million.

Brighton and Hove City Council's commitment to encourage resident use of bus travel has proved to be extremely successful. There has been a considerable increase this year in take-up of the current scheme leading to the overspend.

The Government's national scheme, which takes effect from April 2008, enables those eligible to use their travel card anywhere in the country and the additional flexibility is warmly welcomed by Brighton and Hove City Council.

The current concern is that the exact Government funding is as yet unknown and even if the most favourable option on offer is received, this would leave Brighton and Hove with a substantial shortfall in funding the take-up of the new national scheme.

Together with other similarly affected local authorities, Brighton and Hove is lobbying government ministers with the support of the Local Government Association. We need to ensure that funding will be sufficient and that the additional bill for concessionary travel does not fall upon council taxpayers.

The extension to the current concessionary travel system is welcomed but it is vital that the Government urgently informs authorities that full funding will be forthcoming to support the extended scheme.