East Sussex is hopefully set for improved bus services in both towns and rural areas thanks to forward thinking by the Conservative-led county council, and a significant grant from central government.
The county could receive up to £41.4 million, over three years, to implement its improvement plans. The amount would be split, roughly half-and-half, with up to £22.3 million on capital infrastructure such as real-time information, bus lanes and shelters; plus up to £19.1 million on revenue, such as fare subsidies and evening service provision.
This provisional DfT allocation was one of the largest, and in the top ten among English authorities. It was the third largest shire/rural authority award and the highest per-head-of-population award among these authorities.
A draft summary setting out how this allocation would be spent was submitted by ESCC to DfT on May 3rd. A series of further discussions will now follow with DfT before an agreed final funding figure is announced over the summer.
Conservative councillor Claire Dowling, the East Sussex lead member for transport and environment, said: “We made an extremely ambitious funding bid to the DfT and I am delighted that we have managed to secure this indicative funding allocation.
“The funding will not cover every measure put forward in our initial BSIP, so it’s incredibly important that we carefully prioritise the proposals we take forward to allow us to deliver the most significant improvements to bus services possible.”
