Nottingham has been named top city in the UK for bus passenger satisfaction, according to a major survey conducted by Transport Focus.

The independent organisation completed extensive surveys in the 34 Local Bus Partnership areas to ask passengers their thoughts on wait times, bus drivers, value for money and overall satisfaction. Nottingham ranked as the best city, with an overall approval rating of 87%.

Programmes over the years to modernise the bus fleets, upgrade real-time displays and install more than 26km of bus lanes have helped to create our fantastic bus network. We?ve always worked closely with our brilliant locally-owned operators, namely Nottingham City Transport and trentbarton who both ranked in the top ten of bus operators nationally in the same survey.

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The annual Nottingham St Patrick?s Day event returns to Old Market Square on Sunday, celebrating the city and region?s vibrant Irish community and descendants.

Head to Old Market Square between 11.30am and 4.30pm to enjoy a range of Irish and Irish-inspired live music and culture on stage, including the Louie Walsh Band, Irish dancers and Comhaltas Ceolt?ir? Nottingham. There will also be food stalls selling traditional Irish stew and other delicacies.

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I was pleased to see last week the Chancellor?s Budget announcement on extending the Household Support Fund (HSF) by a further six months.

This is vital help for struggling families in Nottingham and something the council was calling for after the Government had originally announced the scheme would close at the end of March 2024.

In our city, one of the ways that HSF money is distributed is through supermarket vouchers for families of children who receive free school meals ahead of the holidays, and also the provision of free activity clubs through the Holiday Activity Fund.

To date, we?ve distributed ?17m to vulnerable people in the city.

We?re still waiting to hear how much we?re in line to receive through HSF for the next six months and hope to be in a position to explain how we intend to allocate that in Nottingham in the near future.