Bid to save bus fails

A SEAFORD town councillor has branded fellow members 'short sighted' after her bid to save late night bus services was stalled before it even left the depot.

Cllr Rosemary Collict called on the council to help her secure funding to reinstate Eastbourne to Seaford evening bus services. The last 712 bus from Eastbourne was cut back from 10.40pm to 8.20pm because too few people used it.

However, Sussex Rural Community Council parish transport grants, of up to 10,000, can be applied for to pay for 75 per cent of a service with the applicant meeting the remaining 25 per cent.

But a report before councillors said officers had no spare time to arrange the bid unless other work was cancelled.

Cllr Collict said: 'I appreciate that the beginning of the new council year is a busy time for officers, but the future of a bus service which can be used by those either too young, or for one reason or another unable to drive, should be taken into consideration.

'I feel very disappointed that the general tone of the report is so negative.'

Committed

At a town council meeting on Tuesday, the issue split councillors down the middle with Cllr Collict's bid failing by just one vote. Members were told staff were fully committed to other projects until September.

Cllr Collict was upset at the outcome. She said: 'It is ridiculous to leave things until September. By then we will have lost all the advantages that trying to get something in place for the summer months might have given us.

'I was also very disappointed that the council can be so short sighted. However, I shan't let this stop me and I shall continue to work to see what we can do.'

Council leader Laurie Holland said they needed to establish what support East Sussex County Council and Lewes District Council could give, if any, before the town agreed to meet any costs.

'We do not want to commit the town council to an horrendous bill. It is all very well having grants available but nobody has come up with any figures.

'It would be very foolish to apply for grants when 25 per cent has got to be borne by the town council.'

But he added: 'The staff are so tied up with other commitments. An enormous amount of time has gone into Jubilee events and also commitments to CCTV and Christmas lights, but that does not preclude us from making some investigations.'