COUNCILLORS are to be asked to approve a bus scheme to serve deprived areas of Darlington.

Darlington Borough Council has secured a grant of £1,070,000 until 2006 to improve bus routes in deprived areas and so provide vital links to areas of employment and health care.

The bus routes will form a circle linking Firthmoor and Red Hall to areas including Yarm Road and Morton Park, where there are employment opportunities and leisure facilities such as Eastbourne Sports Centre, Morton Park and health centres.

The scheme will include extending the times of the number 17 bus service and increasing its route between Darlington Memorial Hospital and Faverdale and between The Broadway and Whinbush via Red Hall.

The funding included £260,000 to buy four, fully accessible buses for the route and £270,000 to operate the new routes and extend the number 17 service.

Although the grant has been awarded for the buses to be bought and run, the money must initially come from council funds and then be reclaimed from the Government's Urban Bus Challenge Funds.

Next week councillors will be asked to release the money to allow the new bus initiative to start.