Calls have been made to do more to protect bus routes amid claims services in Bath are in a 'sorry state'.

A Liberal Democrat motion at Bath and North East Somerset Council called on Dan Norris, the West of England Combined Authority Mayor, to continue negotiations with bus providers and bring forward solutions to protect bus routes.

It also called on the government to address the drivers shortage and to bring bus services back under public control.

Proposing the motion, Matt McCabe, councillor for Bathavon South, said: "Our local bus services are in a sorry state, and this just goes to show the failure of privatisation of public transport. This dogma has led to monopoly companies, high fares, unreliable services, and services that don't meet the needs of residents.

"Ultimately, councils have very little say over bus services. We pay our transport levy contribution to Weca and then we have to lobby the Mayor to beg the bus companies not to axe this or that route."

Moorlands councillor Jess David highlighted the impacts bus cuts are having in her ward, saying: "The number 8 service serves the Moorlands estate and connects residents with the Moorland Road shopping area and the city centre. I know numerous residents, many of them elderly, who use this service and rely on it, and are seriously concerned about its future.

"Under the latest timetable this bus is now running only every 45 minutes with a reduced service in the evening and at weekends. I am very grateful that we still have this service, but with repeated cuts I am seriously concerned that it is effectively being salami sliced away and is not a reliable way for residents to get to work, to school, or into the city."

Vic Pritchard, leader of the Conservative group on the council, said: "Reliable and effective bus services are vital to allow people to access amenities and use local businesses and tackle congestion and the climate emergency. The proposed cuts will affect disadvantaged communities and residents who do not have access to private transport. As the region's transport authority, the West of England Combined Authority needs to prioritise these essential services and this administration must do more to put pressure on the Metro Mayor to ensure this happens."

He added that the Conservatives would support the motion, despite disagreeing with restoring transport authorities' abilities to bring buses under public control, warning that "the funds that would be required for this undertaking would be astronomical."

Labour councillors tabled amendments to the motion which would have replaced criticism of Mr Norris for failing to protect bus routes with recognition that he took part in meetings on the issue, and would have added calls for Liberal Democrat council leader Kevin Guy to support him in negotiations with bus companies.

They would have also added in notes highlighting that B&NES transport levy was cheaper than in other places and changed wording of statements to say gaps in service "could" put residents off public transport, rather than saying they will.

Introducing the amendment, Paulton councillor Liz Hardman said: "These are difficult times for bus services and let's recognise what the combined authority has done, I believe, an excellent job in very difficult circumstances. We've heard some of these. And its a process that is still not finished. We've heard of the many difficulties: drivers shortages, Brexit — remember those lovely Polish drivers, now mainly gone —, pay and conditions, falling passenger numbers, and rising costs."

She added: "Thanks to the Metro Mayor's hard work over half of the bus routes under threat of cuts have been saved."

The amendments were slammed as "totally political" by councillor Joel Hirst. Council leader Kevin Guy said that he had worked with the leaders of South Gloucestershire and Bristol councils to find the money for transport when asked by Mr Norris, but that Mr Norris had not worked hard enough to protect bus routes.

Mr Guy said: "Unfortunately, just because you've had the experience of Dan Norris being parachuted into your Labour wards and he's fixed your one bus route, Dan Norris has not worked in any way near the capacity he could have done to save our buses.

"And unfortunately, when Lib Dem members mention him by name, they are not having a go at the Labour party locally, they are not having a go at the Labour party generally, but they are having a go at this man who has failed us in some of our most deprived areas."

Joanna Wright, councillor for Lambridge, argued that the discussion had become too political. She said: "For many years, I have been fighting for buses across the local region and particularly on the east of Bath. It is clear that young people on the east of Bath have been failed repeatedly by the bus service, and that wasn't in the last year or the last two years. That has been in the last 20 years.

"So essentially I feel we are using Dan Norris as a political football this evening to make this fight. Where, in fact, every one of us, whichever our political persuasion is, feels we need a better bus service. And what we have had for years is a deregulated market that hasn't wanted to improve that bus service but has actually favoured the private vehicle over everything else."

The motion was passed by the council with broad support, but with abstentions from the Labour group whose amendment did not pass.