THE FUTURE of the town's bus service was left dangling last week when a dramatic decision to axe 19 subsidised routes across the county was "called-in".

Opposition councillors "put the brakes" on the county executive's plan to cut the supported journeys, that would include five - three daytime and two evening - in Macclesfield, to address a gross £473,000 overspend.

Labour spokesman David Robinson, Labour group leader Derek Bateman and Liberal Democrat spokeswoman Molly Hale joined forces to delay proceedings that they thought had moved too fast. The bus services will now remain unaffected until the issue is discussed by county councillors at a later date.

Coun Robinson said: "This whole controversy has been rushed through and still remains contentious and uncertain. We believe the views of residents have not adequately been given a hearing. Without this action 19 supported bus routes would have simply disappeared - and very quickly. And the executive has not stipulated how 18 daytime, evening and Sunday evening bus services are to be revised.

"At present it appears that we are taking a knife to parts of the supported bus network - lopping off a piece here and there to save cash."

The administration has maintained that it ran into debt because of the "spiralling" cost of contracts and rising numbers of de-registered commercial routes.

Critics of the money-saving scheme argue that the executive failed to set aside an adequate proportion of its budget for public transport - £360,000 has since been pumped back into public transport.

The debate on the future of the bus routes was called-in by the opposition once before when the critics pressed for a public consultation period.

Targeted routes that the cabinet earmarked for the chop are daytime services Number 287 Macclesfield to Wilmslow; N391 Macclesfield to New Mills via Bollington; NE97 Handforth to Wilmslow High School and night-time routes N63 Macclesfield to Rainow after 5.30pm and N300 Knutsford town service after 6.30pm.

Three routes to be revised or reduced are N1A Wildboarclough to Tytherington High School; N5 and 6 Macclesfield to Weston and Langley after 6.30pm and N5 and 6 Sunday service to Weston and Upton Priory.

County Council leader Paul Findlow spoke after the cabinet meeting last week about the decision to cut the poorest performing services.

"We asked the people of Cheshire for their views and we have clearly shown that we have listened despite an acute awareness that we cannot continue subsidising all the current uneconomical routes when bus operators have increased their tenders by an average of 35pc.

"At that level, even with significant additional finance, it still buys fewer passenger journeys. Regrettably 19 services will be withdrawn but the figure could have been much greater if we had not put an extra £360,000 into the budget. There will be no 'close down' of evening bus services as was once feared; on the contrary nearly 70pc will be retained."

Of the 62 separate contracts affecting daytime, evening and Sunday evening bus routes, 25 were set to be saved, 18 revised and 19 were to be cut. There are still concerns that if the latest plans go ahead they will act as a curfew for many people across the borough.

Coun Hale said: "There are so many unanswered questions about a policy which I firmly believe will devastate many of our communities. Not everyone has access to a car, not everyone can afford taxis but there are many people, particularly younger and older members of our communities who rely very heavily on supported bus services. What happens to all these people?"