A £1.7million funding motion from Conservatives in Cambridgeshire to halt ‘unfair’ cuts to bus services has been rejected today (September 30).

The decision was made at a meeting of Cambridgeshire County Council’s (CCC) Strategy and Resources Committee this afternoon.

Seven councillors voted for the amendment, while eight voted against.

However, a further committee meeting will be held on October 20, one day after that of CAPCA’s on October 19, where the council will then decide what the outcome will be following CAPCA’s tender results.

The Conservatives proposed on Wednesday (September 28) that they would allocate £1.7million from CCC’s general reserves.

This would match the figure that CAPCA offered to rescue cancelled Stagecoach services on September 21.

In the proposal, Cllr Steve Count said the impact on residents is “immediate” and so an “immediate response” is required whilst buying the authorities the time for longer term thinking.

However, in talks at the meeting which ended in a rejection to the proposals, many councillors agreed that CCC should wait to see how the process plays out before investing any money into the bus cuts.

Leader of CCC, Lucy Nethsingha, said: “As has been made clear by a number of speakers, we don’t yet know the cost of preserving the bus services, or what other sources of funding might be available.

“The amendment asks for a very specific amount to be taken out of our reserves before we know what level of funding is needed, and we have another meeting the day after the tender results where, if needed, we can review whether additional support is necessary.

“I am absolutely not ruling out that the county council may need to help.”