BUS services in Teesdale are safe from cuts until at least 2020 but “very difficult” decisions may have to be made if further reductions to grants are made by central government, say council chiefs.
Bus routes in rural Teesdale were saved in 2011 after Durham County Council earmarked a rescue fund of £75,000 when Arrive pulled out as an operator up the dale.
Scarlet Band took over much of the work and it meant that most services in Teesdale are now subsidised by the public purse.
Teesdale Action Partnership (TAP) has asked Durham County Council about the future of these services in light of further cuts to the authority’s budget and the end of Scarlet Band’s contract.
Adam White, co-ordinator of TAP, told last week’s meeting: “Some 98 per cent of bus services in Teesdale are subsidised by Durham County Council which has informed me that there are no major budget pressures on those at the moment but they don’t know the landscape going forward.
“The message is ‘we’re okay but we can’t predict the future’. The contracts go to 2021 and there is the potential to extend them for another year but they can’t make any guarantees.”
Jeff Garfoot, head of corporate, finance and commercial services at the county council, told members of TAP there was an uncertain future.
He added: “The council budget is set this year in terms of bus services. But austerity is not finished and there will be another spending review from central government. There is big uncertainty past 2019/20.
“The government is carrying out a fair funding review – I tend to call it an unfair funding review. The biggest risk is that there will be further cuts going forward.
“If they cut any more then we will have to make very, very difficult decisions. Already we have lost in the region of 3,000 posts at Durham County Council. If that was business, there would be a national outcry.”
