Taxpayers could pay a high price for the West Midlands mayor’s bus franchise scheme according to Dudley Council’s leader.

At a meeting of the authority’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee on February 26, Cllr Patrick Harley launched a brutal attack on the plan.

The committee had been given a presentation on the scheme which would see bus services taken back into public control and private operators pay to run routes. Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) representatives told the committee the cost of moving to franchising would be £22.5m but Cllr Harley was quick to dismiss their figures.

Cllr Harley said: “I am bitterly disappointed, Transport for West Midlands failed to mention future costs in the region of £80m which the seven local authorities would have to underwrite.”

The plan is the brainchild of Labour’s West Midlands mayor Richard Parker as head of the West Midlands Combined Authority which comprises seven local councils including Dudley. Cllr Harley said the TfWM presentation failed to take account of possible falling income from decreasing passenger numbers which would leave councils having to fill financial black holes.

Cllr Harley added: “We haven’t been given the full financial impact, they will have to go away and do more work on the financials.

“The concept is accepted but we can’t carry on as we are, we are certainly not backing this from a financial standpoint.”

TfWM said: “The size of the bus network can be scaled up or down to match the size of the budget available.

“TfWM will also control fares which is a further lever to either encourage demand or control costs.

“The modelling shows that franchising is the most efficient way of delivering bus services and as such, for the same budget, franchising provides the largest bus network for residents.”

Conservative Cllr Harley, who insisted he was not making political points, was also concerned about how residents would react if services were withdrawn. He said: “At the moment other people get the blame for stopping service, under this it will be the local authority that gets the blame.”

Committee chairman, Cllr Shaun Keasey, had an eye on the future as a cause for his scepticism. Cllr Keasey said: “What’s the point? By 2030 we will all be getting into nice clean electric cars, why don’t we spend the money on the roads?”