Updated:

The Government has approved a £31 million package of transport improvements for Bath.

The Department for Transport has agreed to pay for £11.7 million of the cost of expanding three park and ride sites and bringing in new showcase bus routes.

The department announced the cash injection as part of a £1.4 billion investment programme made up of 41 different schemes across the country.

The Bath Transportation Package has been whittled down from a far more controversial £66.7 million programme by the incoming Liberal Democrat administration at the Guildhall.

The overall price tag was reduced by cutting the most contentious parts of the package, including the Bathampton Park and Ride site and the Bus Rapid Transit through Newbridge. But the amount of money being offered by Bath and North East Somerset Council had to increase in response to warnings over the public sector spending squeeze.

B&NES Council will pay £17.8 million, while the amount originally requested of the Department for Transport has been slashed from an original £55.1 million. Money will also come from bus operator First and developer Crest Nicholson.

The package includes:

* expansion and improvement of park and ride facilities at Newbridge (250 extra spaces), Lansdown (390) and Odd Down (250) - a 50 per cent increase in total capacity.

* upgrades to nine key bus routes, with real time information and bus priority measures.

* permanent flashing variable message signs on the approaches to Bath and in the city centre which can be used to tell motorists when car parks are full

* improvements to the High Street area in the city centre

* transport work at the Bath Riverside development.

The new regime at the council - which took power from the Tories in May - has removed a bus lane in Lower Bristol Road from the plans, and halved the size of the expansion of the Newbridge Park and Ride.

Council cabinet member for transport Councillor Roger Symonds (Lib Dem, Combe Down) said: “The city needs measures to improve the ease with which people can get to their homes, jobs, and shops by tackling congestion so that they are not stuck in jams.

“The Bath Transportation Package will result in improved access to the city centre and its car parking spaces for those who need them because our park and ride capacity will increase by almost half. Instead of out-of-town commuters and shoppers facing full park and ride sites and heading into an already congested city centre, they are more likely to be able to find a space.

“The plan will back the development of the infrastructure needed to encourage private sector business investment in the city.”

Transport minister Norman Baker said of the Bath package: “We think it makes good environmental sense and will deal with congestion issues as well.”

The council will run a public consultation exercise on the design of bus shelters for the nine improved routes next month and work on those and on expanding the park and ride sites will start in the second half of 2012 and last around two years.

Bath Chamber of Commerce executive director Ian Bell welcomed the funding and the extra park and ride spaces, but said he hoped that a park and ride site to the east of the city would still be found in the future.

“There are many other improvements to our local transport system, such as an eastern park and ride which would play a big part in reducing congestion in the city centre.”

Opposition Tories said the deal now secured by the council was the worst in the country, with B&NES the only local authority to get a DfT contribution of less than 50 per cent, and others securing 90 per cent of the total cost.

Transport spokesman Councillor Tim Warren (Con, Mendip) said: “The Liberal Democrats cut back on the package but increased the amount local council tax payers will have to fork out for the scheme. Now we find out that B&NES is the only council paying more than half the cost of a scheme.

“Liberal Democrat councillors clearly have a lot of explaining to do to local residents as to why our area has received the worst deal in the country, leaving council tax payers out of pocket. It will now be more important than ever for the council to come up with a broader overarching transport vision for the years to come, hopefully with a greater political consensus.”

But Liberal Democrat Councillor Caroline Roberts, who represents the Newbridge area targetted for the BRT, said: “Bath residents have always made it clear that they want improvements to traffic and public transport in Bath, but not the acres of new concrete and Tarmac or building a road through residents’ gardens as favoured by the previous administration. The new Bath Transportation Package is proof of the Liberal Democrat commitment to listening to residents and delivering transport and traffic improvements for Bath. This funding will make an enormous difference.”

And city MP Don Foster praised his party's leadership of B&NES.

Earlier this year, he brought fellow Liberal Democrat Mr Baker to Bath to discuss the package with councillors.

He also met the minister a number of times at Westminster to discuss its merits.

He said: “The delivery of the Bath Transportation Package shows just how well Liberal Democrats running the council are working with Liberal Democrats in government.

“As a result of effective engagement between Lib Dems in government at both a local and national level, Bath will now benefit from significant transport improvements and a boost to the economic growth of the city. I’d like to congratulate the Liberal Democrat council in delivering this key aspect of their manifesto.”

Ministers said all the projects funded had been through a “stringent assessment process to ensure they offer value for money and are affordable for both the Government and the local area.”

Transport Secretary Justine Greening said: “Almost all journeys begin and end on local authority networks, which provide the crucial links that allow people and businesses to prosper. We are investing in schemes that will provide better access to jobs and services, reduce congestion and enable more goods to move more easily around our country.”

The Government has assessed the BTP as being worth £28.6 million, regarding some of the council-funded preparation work as not part of the package itself.

The total number of park and ride spaces will rise from 1,990 to 2,880.

*The council told us last week that the overall package was worth £34.3 million - but now says it will cost just £31 million.