A Worcestershire Town Council has expressed fears over a lack of funding for rural bus services.

Pershore Town Council has slammed the County Council for failing to provide adequate funding for services in and around the area.

This comes after the County Council submitted an £86 million bid as part of the ‘Bus Back Better’ campaign.

Cllr Bob Gillmor, chair of the Vale Public Transport Group, said: “We are disappointed that the County Council's "Bus Service Improvement Plan" is such a costly and impenetrable document yet lacks clarity or ambition.

“The government's announced Bus Back Better money seems focused on the conurbations and to ignore the identified needs of the population in rural areas such as South Worcestershire.

“Our people deserve better.”

As part of the Government’s Bus Back Better campaign, the County Council produced a 131-page report to support a £86 million bid for funding.

However, Pershore town clerk Ann Dobbins says there has been no progress since.

“Since this was published, we have heard nothing; we are concerned at reports that some of the ‘new money’ may have instead been absorbed to maintain services during the pandemic.

“Funding seems channelled to metropolitan areas where public transport spending per person is already significantly higher than in rural areas which often have greater needs around social isolation and health and wellbeing issues.

“Bus services linking local villages to Pershore, withdrawn at the start of the pandemic have still not been restored.”

Some of the concerns raised by Pershore Town Council are the “isolation” of Fladbury and the axed service from Pershore to Redditch.

County Cllr Alan Amos, cabinet member with responsibility for Highways and Transport, explained that they expected to hear back on their bid in February, but have not yet received a response from the Department of Transport.

He added that the funding will be used to support the Enhanced Partnership, which will seek to integrate bus services with other modes of travel, introduce multi-operator and multi-modal tickets, and improve services in rural areas.

He said: “Once that is up and running the relationship between bus operators and councils will be better than ever.

“The purpose of what we are doing is to completely transform urban and rural services across the county.

“Services don’t end at the edge of the towns and cities.”

Cllr Amos stated that Worcestershire has maintained all its contracts and kept ticket prices at pre-covid levels throughout the pandemic.

He added that the council has not cut any services but in fact subsidised several.

He said: “We are looking to expand the network not cut it.

“We will be reviewing each district to see what is needed.

“We are providing bus services where people want, and when they want, because that’s what a good transport system is all about.”