Luke Myer MP for Middlesbrough and East Cleveland makes bus pleas

Luke Myer, Labour MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, has written to TVCA transport committee members ahead of a crunch vote at an upcoming cabinet meeting, where it will be decided how nearly £26m of bus funding is used.

TVCA will receive a multi-year bus funding settlement for 2026/27 to 2028/29, which equates to approximately £8.7m each year, up from 2025/26’s allocation of £7.3m.

Speaking at TVCA’s transport committee on Tuesday, March 3, Emily Campbell, senior transport delivery manager, said: “It provides longer term certainty and enables us, local authorities and bus operators to plan further ahead.”

A full proposed spend plan for the 2026-29 period will be taken to TVCA Cabinet on March 20 for approval. 

Mr Myer’s letter follows on from his East Cleveland Growth Plan, which he launched last year.

He wants to see Stagecoach’s 1 and 2 services secured on a “multi-year basis” and amended to serve Brotton high street.

In addition, a Guisborough to Saltburn link was on Mr Myer’s list of asks, along with a greater frequency of Arriva’s 3 service, which connects Lingdale with Redcar. 

Other requests included a new route that would link Skelton Industrial Estate with smaller villages in the Lockwood ward as well as a Guisborough town market minibus, which he argues would not only support local traders but also tackle social isolation amongst older residents. 

Mr Myer said: “People in our villages travel, on average, twice the national distance to get to work, yet almost a quarter of households do not have access to a car. Rural isolation and weak connectivity are holding our communities back.”

While Mr Myer’s proposals were not endorsed by the transport committee, the letter was highlighted at Tuesday’s meeting by Redcar and Cleveland Labour Councillor Carl Quartermain.

Alan Weston, head of transport at TVCA, explained that there had been approximately 100 requests for services across the Tees Valley that the combined authority had received in the last year. 

Mr Weston said that he believed that all of the service suggestions that Mr Myer had made had been considered as part of the review, as they had been sent in from committee members, councillors or directly from the MP. 

From the end of March, East Cleveland is currently set to lose out on bus provision, as Tees Flex is coming to an end, with the final day of the service on Saturday, March 28 – a decision previously branded “disappointing” by Mr Myer.

East Cleveland was one of the prime beneficiaries from Tees Flex, and while other areas including parts of Stockton, Darlington and Hartlepool are receiving new fixed services to compensate for the on-demand bus service coming to an end, currently Redcar & Cleveland is not.