PLANS for a new £1.5 million bus station in Skipton have been sidelined for the next two years.

Craven Area Committee members were left reeling when it emerged no council funding was available due to overspending.

Councillors heard that a new prioritisation system had been introduced for the local transport plan and the bus station did not score highly enough.

They were told the total budget for 2006/7 and 2007/8 had been set at £7.3 million and £7.2 million respectively.

However, due to overspending during this financial year the 2006/7 budget has been reduced by £1.5 million to £5.8 million.

The bus station has been put on the reserve list, with £55,000 allocated for urgent work.

County councillor Mark Wheeler demanded answers. He said that it had been agreed the designs would be approved during the next financial year and construction finished by 2007/8.

He said: "It looks like we were turkeys waiting for Christmas."

County councillor Robert Heseltine said any further delays would be unacceptable. "It is a disgrace. If this is an example of how a two-tier authority works then we all need sacking.

"We thought we had a scheme ready to go. We weren't on amber we were on a green light. We need to urgently get round a table and thrash out a critical plan," he added.

Coun Heseltine added: "A refurbishment of £55,000 is hardly a stitch in time these days."

Coun Shelagh Marshall said the facilities needed improving urgently. "I heard the phrase 'mad as a wasp' recently, I feel that way about bus station. It is the rural people who use it," she added.

Committee member Julia Cuttriss-Steels, who works for the town's YMCA, which is located by the bus station, said she was "sick and tired" of waiting for the improvements.

"We have been there for 10 years. This bus station redevelopment has been on the cards for 10 years," she added.

Miss Cuttriss-Steels, who has to inhale the bus exhaust fumes every day, said no council representative had ever consulted her about the scheme.

She highlighted the lack of facilities at the station, saying the public knocked on her door wanting timetable information.

And she said she had to let disabled passengers use the YMCA facilities because the station's disabled toilet could only be opened with a key kept at the town hall.