CONCESSIONARY bus travel is set to be extended for young people in the county as part of a trial.

Green councillor Rebecca Tully (Bishops Frome and Cradley) asked Herefordshire Council colleagues to back her motion proposing a pilot scheme from next spring, which would extend the current travel assistance scheme for 16- to 19-year-olds in education to cover bus journeys in evenings, weekends and holidays.

Her motion “would help young people access education, employment and social opportunities”, with the pilot then being “properly evaluated”, she said.

Seconding it, Coun Matthew Engel (Independents for Herefordshire, Golden Valley South) pointed out that 16- to 21-year-olds in neighbouring Powys “can now travel for a pound on all single journeys”.

Coun Richard Thomas (Con, Wormside) said parents in Herefordshire already pay over£1,000 a year for their teenagers “to get transport which is only available when they’re going to school and going home”.

“Yet we’re trying to encourage people to take part in after school clubs and other sporting things,” he said.

Abstaining from the motion, Coun Polly Andrews (Lid Dem, Widemarsh) said however worthy, it would “pre-empt the work of the transport task and finish group, of which I am member”, and which is not due to report until next June.

Cabinet member for finance Coun Pete Stoddart (Con, Bromyard) said is was “regrettable that the previous Green-Independent administration pilfered and squandered more than £50m of our reserves on economic incompetence and green vanity projects, but did not feel it important enough to add this initiative to their budget”.

But Leader Jonathan Lester (Con, Three Crosses) said he welcomed the motion’s proposal that the council also write to the Secretary of State for Transport seeking more support for rural bus travel.

“The funding gap we’re facing is going to be a huge challenge, so we really need to look into this further,” he said.

The motion passed with two abstentions.