A major review is to be carried out of bus services subsidised by Oxfordshire County Council.

The Labour group has proposed the review because it is concerned that too much money is being spent on under-used services.

Councillors want to see if there is a more economical way to run some of them.

Stagecoach abandoned its half-hourly No.32 service from Wantage to Abingdon, via Grove and Didcot, last August, but won a tender for an hourly daytime service after the county council stepped in with £400,000 to subsidise the route.

Critics claim such a large subsidy for one service is not sustainable year in, year out.

Roy Mold, Labour's transport spokesman, proposed the review.

He said: "We cannot go on throwing huge sums of money at bus companies to keep big buses running almost empty throughout the county.

"We need a completely different approach -- something which will work."

The review will examine the possibility of voluntary and community groups running buses, and bringing mobile services to villages instead of taking a handful of people from villages to Oxford.

The council has also called on the Secretary of State for Rural Affairs, Margaret Beckett, to conduct a review of the regulations governing community transport services, including the introduction of laws to allow tenders for commercially unviable routes.

David Robertson, executive member for transport, said: "We are currently paying out £4.45m a year in subsidies and there is a belief that we can get better value for money."

Yesterday, the Abingdon-Witney Link Bus Service was awarded £400,000 of Government funding. It will provide a new route from Berinsfield and serve villages en route.