Critical funding to protect and upgrade transport services across the North East could be under threat at next week’s Budget, it is feared.

The Guardian reported on Wednesday morning that regional mayors are urgently lobbying the Labour Government to prevent cuts to money for bus, rail, cycling, and walking infrastructure.

Sources have told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that senior officials in the North East are concerned about the future of key funding sources.

That includes the region’s allocation of the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS), a pot handed to the North East mayor which is earmarked for projects such as saving the Shields Ferry and which is due to total £1.85 billion between 2027 and 2032. There are also concerns over the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) cash that has helped save at-risk local services from being axed.

Gateshead Council leader Martin Gannon said that the region needed Rachel Reeves’ Treasury to deliver “long-term certainty on transport funding and for there to be enough of it”, while former North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll called the rumoured cuts “worrying”.

The reports come after the North East Combined Authority recently unveiled an £8.7 billion blueprint for vast improvements between now and 2024 – including new Metro stations and railway lines, modern ticketing, major motorway upgrades.

Coun Gannon had previously called last month for ministers to pledge an extension of the BSIP programme beyond March 2025, without which it is feared many subsidised routes deemed unprofitable by private operators will be cancelled, and extend a nationally-funded £2 cap on bus fares before it expires on December 31 this year.

The Labour council leader, who also serves as mayor Kim McGuinness’ deputy, said on Wednesday: “The North East region has significant ambition to transform our transport network, reversing the impact of decades of under investment in the North, while ensuring we do all we can to better opportunities for local people.

Transport is a major enabler of economic growth, and we are serious about making investments which will improve the lives and outcomes for local people both now and in the future.

“We are already delivering major investments in our infrastructure and across public transport to make our network greener, more affordable and appealing and this work needs to continue. We must have long-term certainty on transport funding and for there to be enough of it to continue the work we have already begun, and to achieve our longer-term ambitions. We are already speaking to Government to stress the importance of this.”

He also warned in September that it would be “completely unacceptable” for Labour to renege on a £73 million transport funding commitment for County Durham, which was made under the previous Tory administration and is yet to be confirmed.

There have also been questions recently over whether an additional £6 million for the restoration of the Tyne Bridge, a ‘Network North’ pledge made by Rishi Sunak following the scrapping of HS2’s northern leg, will be delivered or not.

An improved allocation of £1.8 billion, an increase of £685 million, from the second tranche of the CRSTS scheme was also among the promises made after the HS2 decision 12 months ago.

Labour’s transport secretary Louise Haigh accused the Conservatives this summer of making £2.9 billion of “unfunded transport commitments” during their time in office, while the Chancellor has said there is a £22 billion hole in the public finances which she is trying to plug.

Mr Driscoll, who stood as an independent and finished second the the North East mayoral election this year, told the LDRS that “rumours of transport cuts are worrying”.

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He added: “This [the extra £685 million CRSTS allocation] was formally agreed, not just some policy announcement.  We’ll see what the budget brings, and whether Westminster has let us down.”

The Treasury was contacted for a response. A spokesperson had told The Guardian that “boosting transport remains key for growth, and city region sustainable transport settlements will continue to play a key part in delivering this”.