Greater Manchester faces difficult choices after bus funding decision - mayor

Thirty-one areas in England have been given government funding to boost bus services

Difficult choices lie ahead after Greater Manchester was awarded half the funding it requested to improve the bus network, the region's mayor has warned.

Andy Burnham said the £94.8m grant was welcome but bus services could get worse before they get better.

The government scheme has also seen Warrington given £16.2m, Liverpool City Region get £12.3m and £34.2m awarded to Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen.

Blackpool and Cheshire West and Chester missed out on the funding.

A total of 31 areas in England have been picked to receive government funding to speed up bus journeys and make services more reliable and greener.

Speaking to BBC North West Tonight, Mr Burnham said the money was a "vote of confidence in Greater Manchester's plans for a London-style public transport system", but was "not everything that we were asking for, so obviously some difficult choices lie ahead".

However, he said his office was still set to deliver the plans, which would be "significantly better than what we've got today".

Mr Burnham said he was grateful to the government for the funding

Mr Burnham approved plans for Greater Manchester to become the first area outside London to have a regulated bus system, bringing the system back under public control, in March 2021.

In March 2022, bus operators Stagecoach and Rotala lost a legal challenge against the decision.

The Labour mayor also welcomed the news that the city-region would receive £1.07bn for one-off infrastructure costs to improve the transport network.

The funding will help pay for a transport interchange in Bury, a railway station in Golborne and zero emission buses, bus stops and road repairs.

Some councils, including Cheshire West and Chester and Blackpool, have been left disappointed after their bids were unsuccessful.

A Cheshire West and Chester spokesman said it was still progressing its plans to introduce an on-demand rural bus service following a grant of £1.075m from the Department for Transport Rural Mobility Fund.

Blackpool Council's director of communications and regeneration Alan Cavill said the authority needed to receive feedback about why it had been unsuccessful before commenting.

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