A popular bus route will remain despite the council’s decision to withdraw subsidies.

Route 38 - which runs between Macclesfield and Crewe via Gawsworth - is among a number of routes with evening and weekend services which have been propped up by council funding.

But Cheshire East Council cabinet members voted to stop providing subsidies in order to save the council £1m a year.

Now Arriva – which operates the 38 – has agreed to continue running the service after 7pm on Fridays and Saturdays without the council subsidy.

The future of other routes affected remains uncertain as a tender process between the council and service providers is underway.

The other routes affected are: Routes 5 and 6 to the Weston Estate on Sundays; Route 9 to the Moss Rose after 8.55pm on Fridays and Saturdays and all day Sunday; 10 and 10a to Bollington after 9.15pm on Friday and Saturday plus Sunday services after 6.16pm; and route 130 to Manchester on Sundays.

Arriva – which currently operates the affected routes – will make a decision on which routes to run based on the commercial risk.

A spokeswoman or Arriva said: “The only agreement that has been made is that Arriva will operate the 38 on a Friday and Saturday evening commercially with the current time table.”

Any changes to the evening and weekend bus routes will not come in until April next year.

The council’s proposals have coincided with an ongoing dispute between Arriva and its drivers.

Staff at the company, including those in Macclesfield, are intending to strike over the Christmas period after they failed to reach a compromise with representatives from the two trade unions involved, United and GMB.

Planned strike days are: Monday, November 27; Monday, December 4; Thursday, December 7; Tuesday, December 12; Wednesday, December 13; Thursday, December 14; Wednesday, December 20; Thursday, December 21; Friday, December 22; Saturday, December 23.

Arriva bosses say they are disappointed by the announcement and apologised to customers for any inconvenience.

However some services may run if individual drivers choose not to strike.