Blackpool Council set to write off £300,000...but will still borrow £7.7m for bus fleet

Local authority leaders will tonight be asked to abandon all hope of recovering a stake of nearly £300,000 in training firm the VIA partnership which went into administration in December.

At the same time the council could agree a £7.7m loan to Blackpool Transport to finance a new bus fleet for the resort.

The cash for Blackpool Transport – which Blackpool Council would borrow on the company’s behalf – is seen as a vital investment with nearly two thirds of the company’s vehicles approaching the end of their economic life.

It would help bring a new fleet of 35 buses to the resort’s streets – with plans to buy 100 new vehicles over the next five years.

Both items are up for discussion at a meeting of the council’s executive tonight.

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