North Yorkshire County Council approves £2m bus subsidy cut

Bus subsidies in North Yorkshire will be cut by £2m from April after councillors approved the plan.

North Yorkshire County Council said the decision would help it meet its £94m four-year savings target by 2015.

The Conservative-run council currently spends around £4.4m a year on subsidising around 20% of the county's bus routes.

The cuts to services that are not commercially viable will come into force in April and May.

Carl Les, deputy leader of the authority, said the council had no choice given the need for it to meet its saving targets.

He said: "We are all very conscious of the potential that these reductions have for people in very rural areas, in terms of isolation and loneliness.

"These issues are very much in our minds, and we will do all we can to mitigate against them."

He said the authority would work with community transport groups to mitigate the effects of subsidy reductions.