In a victory for local campaigners the government have today accepted the argument being made by Labour in Rotherham that Covid funding to support local bus services must be extended – and announced a new six month £180 million pot.

Prior to the announcement as many as one in three of South Yorkshire’s bus services were thought to be at risk.

Rotherham Labour Party has been petitioning residents to show the strength of local feeling to the government, gathering hundreds of signatures over the last two months.

Cllr Chris Read, Labour Leader of Rotherham Council welcomed today’s news;

“Todays announcement of six months of additional funding throws a lifeline to dozens of local bus services that were facing the axe in the next few weeks. Frankly we should never have been in this position in the first place, but I’m glad that the government has heard the concerns expressed here in Rotherham and right across the country. My thanks go to the hundreds of people who’ve supported our campaign so far. This is an important victory when only a few months ago the government were clear that there would be no more money.”

However he added;

“My worry remains that this is only a temporary reprieve, and we will need government to enter into serious discussions now about a longer term settlement to avoid reaching a similar cliff edge again in March. So we’ll keep up our campaign until we have the long term certainty that we need. There are still challenges ahead. Bus companies may still want to make changes to services and we will need to ensure that they minimise disruption as far as possible. I said at the beginning of this campaign that we were in a ‘use it or lose it’ situation and that’s still the case, but today’s news should give travellers some more confidence to get back on our buses and I would urge them to do so.”