Costly schemes to tackle Colchester's traffic congestion have been stalled after the plug was pulled on the cash.

Colchester Council leaders reacted furiously when they learned their county colleagues had guaranteed just a fifth of the £1 million needed to complete their plans.

Now the £300,000-redevelopment of the Queen Street bus station, introducing on-street paid parking in areas such as Crouch Street, schemes to promote cycling safety and funding studies into transport solutions for the future will all have to be scrapped

In a joint statement Lib Dem Terry Sutton, Colchester Council's transport cabinet member, and his Conservative and Labour colleagues, Christopher Arnold and Bob Newman, said some measures taken involved making unpopular decisions.

"We are very aware the travelling public in Colchester are sceptical about the elements of the integrated public transport schemes we have put in place. If funding to continue what we have started is not forthcoming, the damage to the cause we have jointly pursued for several years will be irreparable."

Essex County Council was given the task of allocating the Government's local transport plan cash between all the district and borough councils.

On Thursdayday the county's highways and transportation committee approved just £200,000 for schemes in Colchester. Money requested to improve facilities on the Route 65 buses and introduce hi-tech passenger information systems was slashed to about a half and a third respectively.

The local transport panel is due to meet county councillors and officers today (Friday) to try to thrash out a better deal.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.