Suffolk County Council has been given £3.6m by the government to improve rural bus services - but the offer is unlikely to mean a major transformation.

The grant - announced just days before the Conservative Party Conference - was dismissed by opposition leader Andrew Stringer as "Crumbs under the table."

And it comes 18 months after the Department of Transport rejected a £77m bid from the county to transform services.

The new money will come from the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP+) which is being distributed across the country.

Richard Smith, Suffolk Cabinet Member for Transport Strategy and Waste, said: “I am pleased that Suffolk has received £3.6m of BSIP+ funding for 2023-2025. 

“We can use this revenue-based funding to support the existing bus network and potentially to grow the network with the addition of new bus routes and extensions to existing routes. 

“Managing public transport in a rural setting is not easy. We don’t have the footfall of large urban areas such as London or Manchester, but our accessibility needs are just as important."

But Mr Stringer was not impressed: "We should always welcome any money - but this really is crumbs underneath the table!

"It's a tiny amount compared with the cost of running bus services - some of the districts in Suffolk are spending more to support them than the government is with this!"

The council's bid at the end of 2021 was widely criticised at the time - and the government said it had not met the critieria it had set out.

While Suffolk has now received £3.6m from the government, neighbouring Norfolk was successful in its bid last year and was given £49m to improve bus services around the county.