A COMMUNITY transport project which provides a vital service in the Barrhead area has been handed a welcome cash boost.

The £25,000 grant for Community Transport East Renfrewshire (CTER) will be used to help members of local voluntary and community groups get out and about.

It has been awarded by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT).

Barrhead-based CTER arranges shopping trips for older and disabled residents, as well as providing a volunteer car scheme to transport patients to their GP surgery or hospital appointments.

Councillor David Wilson, chair of the SPT operations committee which approved the funding, told the Barrhead News: “Given the ongoing Covid-19 global pandemic, the last year has had a severe impact on all transport operators, including those working in community transport.

“However, it still remains that many of these community transport projects are lifeline services for those individuals and groups they support.

“Ensuring funding for their future operation and development is key to their success and will ensure they continue to deliver vital services in our urban and rural communities as we come out of lockdown restrictions.”