Watch as Secretary of State for Transport arrives in Peterborough to explain news plans to overhaul city's bus services

Peterborough residents are to get more say in the design of routes for bus services that serve the city and county.

More public consultation with residents will be the hallmark of new powers to be given to the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority as the Government looks to ‘make buses better’.

The changes were unveiled by the Secretary of State for Transport Louise Haigh during a visit to Peterborough during which she met a number of city commuters as she was bused by Stagecoach from the city centre to the Bishop’s Road campus of ARU Peterborough where she meet local politicians to outline the changes that will be set out in a new Bill brought to Parliament today.

She said: “We are extending powers to every area of England to allow them take back control of their buses

"For too long we’ve sat back and allowed private operators to pick and choose whatever routes they want and it has left communities with absolutely no control over where those routes are served.

"So what we are announcing today is that every area of England will have those powers and we are publishing consultation in order to speed up the process.

“So Peterborough and Cambridgeshire will be able to get their a lot quicker.

"When we have proper control over the network it means communities can design those networks themselves and actually connect to the places where they want to go rather than simply sitting back and allowing private operators to do whatever makes commercial sense.

"If you allow those commercial routes to cross subsidise the popular routes then we can build a public transport network that people can really rely on.”

She added: “What we are announcing today will allow the Combined Authority to move much faster to a franchised system so the residents of Peterborough can get that better bus service a lot quicker.

"The plans that we have set out in the Buses Bill will start to combine and devolve much more funding to local authorities so that they have proper control and flexibility over their bus funding.”