COUNCILS in the North-East and North Yorkshire could get an extra £2m to cover the cost of free bus passes for the elderly and disabled.

The Department for Transport is proposing to recalculate the funding it gives to local authorities to run concessionary travel schemes.

The revised figures for 2010- 11 show that nine authorities in the region would receive more money, along with the Tyne and Wear service run by Nexus.

Six councils would be unaffected.

The biggest winner would be Darlington Borough Council, which would get an extra £840,000.

Councillor David Lyonette, the council’s transport portfolio holder, said the extra money would not affect bus pass holders, as the council already provided free travel to the elderly and disabled all day, every day.

However, he added: “This is tremendous news. The burden of providing the extended service would otherwise have fallen on the Darlington ratepayer.”

The recalculation comes after the Government was lobbied by many councils unhappy with their allocation.

The total funding for the scheme has not been increased.

This means that although many authorities in the North-East and North Yorkshire have benefited, councils elsewhere have lost out.

Transport Minister Sadiq Khan said: “We have listened to concerns raised by some councils about the way the grant has been allocated and have also assessed last year’s spending to ensure that we are getting it right.

“We are publishing a proposed revised grant distribution for 2010-11 that seeks to better match the pattern of costs being incurred.

“The changes we are proposing build on the success of the national bus concession and will not in any way affect older or disabled bus users who use the scheme.”

Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary Norman Baker said the recalculation meant that the Government had “botched” the implementation of the popular scheme.

He added: “Redistributing from those councils that have been given a windfall, and kept quiet about it, to those that are desperately out of pocket is a step in the right direction, but it is at best a temporary measure that doesn’t deal with the real issue of underfunding.”

In total, the North-East and North Yorkshire will get more than £17m in 2010-11 through the special grant.

The Government will publish final grant totals early next year.