COUNCIL chiefs have hit back at claims by a minister they have not taken full advantage of Government funds to boost bus services in the borough.

Speaking in the Commons, Chester MP Chris Matheson had quizzed Trudy Harrison, Parliamentary under-secretary at the Department for Transport, on whether Cheshire West and Chester Council would receive money it had bid for to boost school transport.

The bid was part of the Bus Back Better scheme, the Government’s national strategy for improving bus services outside London, with councils being invited to apply for project funding.

Addressing the minister, Mr Matheson said: “With a bunch of parents in my constituency, we have been trying to put together a package for school bus transport that would save hundreds of car journeys a week.

“It is predicated on a successful Bus Back Better bid, but the word from the Treasury is that that money will be halved. Will we get the full amount that Cheshire West and Chester Council bid for?”

To which Ms Harrison replied: “That decision is yet to be taken, but in terms of the honourable gentleman’s council and the money it is missing out on, it is disappointing to learn that in Chester the green bus technology fund, the low emission fund, the ultra-low emission fund, the all-electric bus city fund and all the zero-emission bus regional area funds have not been taken advantage of by his council.”

She added: “I really would encourage him to work with his council to make the most of the generous offers provided by the department.”

But Cllr Karen Shore, the council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for environment, highways and strategic transport, said the suggestion the council was not taking advantage of funding available was ‘simply not the case’.

She said: “We have been working closely with bus operators to develop an ambitious Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), aimed at encouraging more people to travel by bus, which included a £38m funding bid to central government.

“Working collaboratively with bus operators themselves to ensure we prioritise the right actions.

"The other funding streams mentioned amount to a very small proportion of the needs identified to deliver ‘Bus Back Better’.

“These bids required support from private sector operators as a precondition of funding from the DfT and the council was not able to submit proposals where operators were unable to commit to match funding in these most challenging of times.

“Another of the funding sources mentioned could only be issued to one local authority within an Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) area and, despite our strong application, the funding was awarded to a neighbouring authority.”