A veteran councillor has described local bus services as an “absolute shambles” stating a subsidised link does not properly serve his nearest town.

Councillor Barry Hunt, who lives in Skinningrove, East Cleveland, said residents were “suffering” with no scheduled bus service that they could use to access vital local services in nearby Loftus.

The one and two, funded by the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) and operated by Stagecoach, launched last July following a request by Redcar and Cleveland Council for a service connecting several villages in the area after reductions in commercial services.

Cllr Hunt said an existing Arriva service no longer visited Skinningrove directly and while the one and two came into the village it did not extend to the Market Place in Loftus.

Cllr Hunt said this was due to the lack of a turning point, although Councillor Carl Quartermain, the cabinet member for highways and transport on the council, also said competition law meant the subsidised service could not directly connect Skinningrove to eastern Loftus.

Darlington and Stockton Times: Councillor Barry Hunt and Stagecoach buses, the operator of the 1 and 2 service in East Cleveland

This means the bus service can go no further eastwards than the A174/B1366 junction in Loftus, which is a ten minute walk from the Market Place where many shops and local services are situated.

Cllr Hunt said this left people to walk up Loftus bank and recounted how a young mother and her children living in Skinningrove had been unable to attend a Christmas lights switch on in Loftus as a result.

He said: “She would have had to catch the one and two and push a pushchair and walk the kids from the bottom of Loftus right up the High Street to the market square and then she wouldn’t have got back.

“The kids were broken-hearted; they could not go see Santa Claus to switch the lights on.”

Cllr Hunt said: “Transport is a complete shambles and the one and two will only take you to the bottom end of Loftus.

“There’s always excuses, there’s laws, this and that, there’s all sorts of things that aren’t right.”

Skinningrove residents have been advised they can change buses on the A174 using a commercial service to complete a journey from the village to the Market Place in Loftus.

But Cllr Hunt dismissed this and said: “What’s the point just to go a few miles.

“Why should you have to change and get two buses to get to Loftus, it is absolutely ridiculous and stupid.”

Cllr Hunt said he and fellow Brotton ward councillors had campaigned for the one and two, which is only being funded for 12 months on a trial basis by TVCA and which he doubted would continue longer term.

Darlington and Stockton Times: A bus stop on the road into Skinningrove. Picture/credit: Google

They had also met with Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Sir Simon Clarke to air their concerns.

He added: “The people of Skinningrove don’t have a bus on a Sunday anymore and we don’t have a bus to get people to the doctors, dentist, the chemist, the shops.

“It isn’t right and in six months time we will most likely lose the one and two.

“We fought for it, but I think it is a pain in the backside with the money involved to keep it going.”

The one and two connects Brotton, Carlin How, Skelton, Lingdale, Liverton Mines, Loftus, Moorsholm and Skinningrove.

Other stop offs include the East Cleveland Hospital in Brotton, the Skelton Retail Park and Saltburn Railway Station.

Cllr Quartermain said the one and two connected Skinningrove to a number of destinations “within the constraints set out in law” and the council had worked with TVCA to make a case for the service.

He said TVCA as the regional transport authority were responsible for providing supported bus services where the commercially operated network did not meet residents’ needs and there was deemed to be a gap in provision.

But under the law a subsidy could not distort the local commercial bus market and potentially “abstract” passengers unfairly with lawyers acting for TVCA and the council ruling out routes that might do so.

He said: “It doesn’t have to be just the impact on a commercial route along the same road as a supported bus service, but also in the area.”

Cllr Quartermain said: “I share your disappointment and frustration [Councillor Hunt].

“I would like to see the TVCA do what other mayoral authorities are doing and that is run the bus services in-house and have full accountability. “

The cabinet member said bus services appeared to be “way down the list” in terms of Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen’s list of priorities, Mr Houchen having recently announced a £1bn package of transport improvements for the region.

Cllr Quartermain claimed that, in respect of Redcar and Cleveland, one option to be explored could be a “funded car club” – effectively a shared and community taxi.

TVCA already provides the on-demand bus service ‘Tees Flex’ which allows people to book journeys and which was extended for another 18 months in February last year.

A spokesman for TVCA said that while it procured and funded the one and two, the final timetable and routing was agreed by the council.

He said: “We have agreed to fund the one and two service for a one-year trial period ending in July this year. 

“While we do monitor service use, we do not plan on completing a full assessment until the trial nears its end, so we have as much data as possible.

“We have worked with councillors and both Arriva and Stagecoach to review various requests to amend the services without hitting the current commercial market.”

Responding to Cllr Quartermain’s comments, he said that the bus network provided better coverage than it did before the Covid-19 pandemic due to work done with operators in an ‘enhanced partnership’ and investment that had been made by the authority.

He said: “This is in contrast to many areas where the network has shrunk considerably.

“We continue to work to improve the provision of buses.”