Leader of Rotherham Council says rejected bus cash bid has “no immediate consequence” on franchising plans

South Yorkshire Combined Authority Mayor Dan Jarvis announced this month that the region had not been awarded any funding from the government, despite a £474m bid.

Councillor Tony Griffin asked Councillor Chris Read, leader of RMBC, what the consequences of the rejected bid would mean for Rotherham’s bus services, and the region’s move towards franchising.

Councillor Chris Read, leader of Rotherham Council said: “It was a matter of huge disappointment to us, that the bid for South Yorkshire’s bus service improvement plan as it was known was rejected by the government.

“We’ll not be able to fund our plans for wider network bus priority measures.

“One of people’s great frustrations is buses don’t come on time – they just get stuck in traffic.

“Without being able to put that infrastructure in place, we can’t improve the reliability of services.

“That is a consequence of a government that promotes these competitive funding packages, pitting one part of the country against each other, in pursuit of money for services that actually every part of the country needs.

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“The good news is that here is no immediate consequence in terms of franchising.

“That decision to begin that exploratory process stands, and the work is now underway.

“That’s quite a long-term piece of work. Frankly, it is possible that, the fact we can’t improve buses more quickly with the system we’ve got makes franchising more likely at the end of that process.”