A HANDFUL of under-used bus routes could be scrapped in a bid to save Cumbria County Council more than £350,000.

The results of a major review of subsidised services will go before the council's cabinet on Tuesday (March 11) when members will be asked to reduce or withdraw services including some between Ulverston and Barrow, around Kendal and in the heart of the Lake District.

Around 90 per cent of Cumbria's buses are commercially run and these will not be affected by the review. However, the council has been forced to think of ways of reducing the £2 million it spends subsidising the ten per cent of routes that it operates, after a cut in the amount of money it receives from the Government.

Tuesday's paper recommends changes to dozens of subsidised routes after a major public consultation helped build a picture of who uses the county's buses, as well as why and where they use them.

To find out which routes could be affected, see the March 7 edition of The Westmorland Gazette.