Council bus services proposal condemned by members

Members of Rotherham Borough Council voted on Wednesday to demand the government drops Clause 21 of the Bus Services Bill which will prohibit local authorities setting up local companies to run buses.

The council will now write to Lord Ahmad, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, to call for the clause to be ditched.

It will also urge the borough’s MPs, Sarah Champion, John Healey and Kevin Barron, to oppose the clause when the Bill comes to the House of Commons.

The council will also work with organisations such as We Own It, which fights to protect public services, to publicise its opposition.

Cllr Dominic Beck said the clause would be “a totally retrograde step”.

Cllr Emma Hoddinott said: “We really are held over a barrel by the private bus companies and we need to rebalance the services so we have more say.”

She added that private bus companies did not “look beyond profit” so that essential services which were unprofitable could be lost without council involvement.