Libraries, parks and leisure centres face financial cuts after the introduction of free nationwide bus travel for those aged 60 and over. Seaside towns that attract elderly visitors will be badly affected by the Government’s failure to pay for the new benefit, according to local authorities.

Most bus-pass holders are currently able to travel free on services only in their local council areas. But, from April 1, they can use buses free anywhere in England after 9.30am. Some passengers are expected to use a combination of local services to travel hundreds of miles. The free bus pass will cover all local services, including open-top tour buses, but will not be valid on most long-distance coaches.

The Government has given local authorities £212 million to fund nationwide free travel but many say that there will be a shortfall between their share of the pot and what they are obliged to pay bus companies.

Under the rules, bus-pass holders’ trips will be paid for by the area authority in which passengers board the bus.Dozens of councils in popular tourism and shopping destinations will have to pay for journeys made by the thousands of elderly visitors who depart on their buses each year. A survey by the Local Government Association (LGA) found that more than 30 councils were planning to cut services or raise council tax as a direct result of a shortfall in funding for bus passes.

Mobile elderly people will benefit from travel potentially worth more than £2,000 a year, but others will lose services. The LGA said that meals on wheels was among the services that councils were preparing to cut to make up the shortfall. Worthing Borough Council in West Sussex is having to find £600,000 and is cutting funds for a swimming pool and plants and flowers in parks, and raising charges for beach huts. Portsmouth City Council has cut five librarians and funding for the local Rape Crisis Centre to help it to meet a total shortfall of £1.3 million in its bus-pass budget. Councils in Weymouth and Chester are planning to raise council tax by 5 per cent to pay for their shortfall. David Sparks, chairman of the LGA’s transport board, said: “Free bus travel is great for millions of older people but will leave many councils in the areas where they are travelling to bear much of the cost. The Treasury must make sure it is not at the cost of vital services or an increase in council tax.”

Gerald Vernon-Jackson, the leader of Portsmouth City Council, said that bus companies appeared to be profiting from the bus passes even though the Government had said that they should be reimbursed only for their extra costs. “The companies are putting in bills that give them the highest possible return,” he said.

The total cost to the taxpayer of providing free bus travel for the elderly and disabled will reach £1 billion from April. The DfT already spends almost £800 million funding free travel for those aged 60 and over.

— Age Concern said that the social care settlement in public spending to 2011, with a 1 per cent annual real-terms increase, fell well short of the expected 4 per cent increase in the cost of providing social care to an increasingly elderly population.

Times Recommends

• 6 reasons not to give gifts this Christmas
• Remembrance Day: All the lonely heroes