A rural bus and train transport scheme linking Maldon to surrounding villages is here to stay.

Essex County Council transport chiefs pledged their support for the Dengie VillageLink - despite being slammed by shadow transport minister Bernard Jenkin.

Dengie VillageLink was officially launched yesterday by Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Keith Hill.

The scheme is seen as an alternative to car use and has been heralded as a demonstration of the Government's commitment to rural communities.

Mr Hill used the launch to announce a further cash boost of £100 million for eastern region transport schemes. He promised the Government would subsidise rural buses for a further three years.

There were now 170 new bus schemes in the east of England alone, said Mr Hill.

Neil Spurgeon, chairman of Essex County Council highways and transportation committee, said the promise of three years' more Government funding was "a great announcement for Essex and this particular project".

The scheme needed to be "tweaked" but it was meeting the needs of the public.

Yesterday Mr Jenkin called the scheme as a waste of money.

According to Essex County Council, £621,231 had been spent by the end of last August to carry 4,238 passengers - a subsidy of £147 per passenger, said Mr Jenkin.

He said: "Community transport schemes are crying out for just a fraction of this kind of money. They would achieve so much more."

But Robbie Watson, Essex County Council's passenger transport promotions officer, said the initial Rural Bus Challenge grant was a lump sum to buy the buses and the service was now in process of becoming self-financing.

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