Love Your Bus Grant Fund Application 2025/2026 - Page 1 of 3 - Essex County Council

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Love Your Bus Application Form

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Introduction

The Love Your Bus Grant Fund supports Parish and Town Council projects aimed at increasing bus service patronage and aligning with Essex County Council’s (ECC) goals of fostering:

A strong, inclusive, and sustainable economy.
A high-quality environment.
Health, wellbeing, and independence for all ages.
A good place for children and families to grow.

Grants of up to £50,000 are available for revenue-only projects in the 2026/2027 period, supported by the Department for Transport's BSIP+ funding. Total funding available: £500,000.

In order to help you complete this application, you may wish to download PDF document of this application form: Love Your Bus application Form

Eligibility Criteria

Who can apply: Parish and Town Councils only.
Bus service requirement: Services must operate at least 80% of their mileage within ECC's administrative area (excluding Southend and Thurrock).
Number of bids: Each council can submit up to three bids.
Collaborative applications with neighbouring Councils are encouraged.
Transport Provider support: Letter to provide support from bus company operating the service and their commitment to meet the data-sharing requirements as outlined in application guidelines.
Support from County Councillor – Written or email confirmation from the local County Councillor endorsing the project.

Guidance on Contracted Services

To support Parish and Town Councils during the application process, we have published a spreadsheet listing all Essex County Council subsidised local bus contracts and their expiry dates. This is designed to provide clarity while the Supported Local Bus Service Consultation is ongoing, with final decisions expected in the new year.

If the service number you are applying for does not appear on this list, it is a commercially operated service, and any proposal will be at the discretion of the transport provider to determine whether it is a viable option.

Please note:

Your proposal must complement existing service but not require any changes to the existing contract.
If you are unsure whether a section of a route is subsidised, please contact us for clarification.
A full list of current subsidised services and their contract expiry dates can be found below.

List of Supported Local Bus services expiring in 2026

List of Supported Local Bus services expiring in 2028

Please find below answers to some frequently asked questions:

FAQ Document

For full details on application/bid criteria, intended grant agreement, project requirements, collaboration guidance, evaluation criteria, funding and financial requirements, project monitoring and reporting, including the information required to complete this application, please read all the documents below.

Please note: Online application must be completed and submitted in one sitting.

Important: Please Read Before Completing the Application Form Relevant Documents - Please red before competing application

Love your bus Application Guidance Notes

Bid Criteria for Parish and Town Councils

Intended Grant Agreement

1. Please confirm you have read the Love Your Bus 2 Guidance Notes and Bid Criteria before starting this application.

(Required) Yes No

2. Are you applying on behalf of

(Required) Parish Council Town Council

Enter full name of your Parish/Town Council (Required)

3. Contact name and job title

(Required)

4. Contact email address

(Required)

5. Contact telephone number

(Required)

6. What is your organisation's address

(Required)

7. Is this a joint application

Please select from the list below (Required)

If Yes, list all Parish/Town Councils involved in this application.

Please Note: Only the lead Parish/Town Council can submit the application.

8. Bus service details

Please provide the service number (Required)

Please provide name of transport provider who operates this service (Required)

Bus Service Start and Destination (Required)

9. Transport Provider Support Letter

Please confirm that the Transport provider of the service has provided you the letter/email to supports this application and the letter confirms agreement to share passenger data for monitoring purposes. (Required)

Attach a letter from them confirming this and that they will meet the data sharing requirements set out in Love Your Bus Guidance Notes (project monitoring section)

Please make sure your file is under 25MB

10. County Councillor Support Letter

Name of Supporting County Councillor (Required)

Please confirm that the chosen County Councillor has provided required letter/email and it is attached to this application. (Required)

Please upload written or email evidence of support from your County Councillor, with this application.

Please make sure your file is under 25MB

11. Full Project Description:

What are your project’s objectives and how will you achieve them (Required)

What you are investing in i.e. how you will spend the money (Required)

Summarise how your project will help increase passenger numbers on this service (Required)

Specify any specific groups who will benefit (Required)

Sustainability – please provide how you expect passenger numbers to be sustained once grant funding ends (Required)

12. Do you have any organisations or individuals partnering with you to support and help deliver this project?

13. Projects timeline

Expected project start date (Required)

Confirm that grant-funded spending on the project will be completed by 31 March 2027. (Required)

14. Evaluation of impact: If successful, do you agree to measure the impact of your project and send ECC information quarterly including a brief end of project report

(Required) Yes No

15. How much funding are you requesting for your Love Your bus project

Amont (£) (Required)

16. Additional Contributions

Is your organisation or any partners contributing additional funding to this project? Please list each contribution separately. (Leave blank If no other contribution)

17. What is the total cost of the project?

Amount (£) (Required)

18. Grant spending breakdown: Specify the main areas the grant will be spent on and the estimated amount (e.g. staff costs, resources, equipment, evaluation)

Amount (£) (Required)

19. Declaration: Please tick the box to confirm that you have read and understood the intended Grant Agreement.

We understand that if the project or any information in this application changes before the award panel review, we must inform Essex County Council immediately. We confirm that we are authorised to submit this application on behalf of the applicant organisation and that we have read, understood, and accept the guidelines and criteria (Required)

If your application is successful, you will be required to formally agree to the grant terms and conditions and sign the agreement before any funds can be released.

Please ensure you have read the Intended Grant Agreement

By signing below, you confirm that:

You have read the Intended Grant Agreement
You are authorised to complete this declaration on behalf of the applicant organisation
Signed agreement will be returned to ECC within 6 weeks of receipt

If the person completing this application does not have signatory rights, please provide the name and contact details of the person who is authorised to sign the grant agreement on behalf of the Parish/Town Council. This information will be included in the final grant agreement.

Signature: Please add your initials (Required)

Today's Date (Required)

Authorised Signatory (if different) Add name and Role

20. Before submitting this application

Please ensure you have uploaded the following documents:

Transport Providers Support Letter
County Councillor Support Letter

If you experience any issues uploading these documents, please email them to: IPTU.applications@essex.gov.uk

Be sure to include your Response ID in the email. (Please make a note of your Response ID after submitting your application.)

Important:

Your application will be rejected without these documents.