Bus Passes. Are We Being Screwed?

Big article in the Herald Express yesterday. Torbay Council announce that they will need to find an extra £600 000 to fund the "Free Bus Pass Scheme." And that's on top of the £2.5m they already have put aside. That means council tax will have to go up by 5%. But Central Government have indicated that a rise of 5% would end up being capped. Nothing to do with knee capping but just as painful. A few Whitehall Heavies, usually in Black suits would turn up at the Town Hall and force their way in, explain very nastily that 5% is too much and remove large sums of money from the council strong room, you're being fined they will say, they will even give a receipt but we will never see the money ever again.

So no 5% rise in council tax. So give the bus companies less money? Yeah, right. After all the owner of the biggest local bus company is worth hundreds of millions. He wouldn't miss a couple of million would he? I think he would miss it. Problem with that is we have a good bus service round here, it's a big asset, it would be foolish to throw that away. Cuts will have to be made else where, in unimportant areas such as child care, social services, education, road repairs, street lighting and the rubbish would only be collected once every 3 months.
So how have Torbay Council made such a mess of the financies to be in this state? Given their reputation over the last ten to fifteen years, Audit reports listing the council as a poorly run authority came thick and fast, but there has been improvement recently. Are they slipping back into their all ways? Has infighting in the Town Hall returned? Is the title Councillor more important than the work that goes will it? Are they just taking the money and heading of to Sunny London? Well I am glad to say no. Actually I’m not glad. If the above were true than at the next election we could vote this lot out and get a new lot in who would sort the problem out. But if we got Barack over here, part time as it were, for a few weeks before he starts his big job in January I doubt even he would be able to sort it.

Lets go back a couple of years. Gordon Brown, then not Prime Minister, announced free bus travel for the disabled and over sixties within their local area. £420million of public money would be available to pay for it. (Buget 2005 figures). Then the scheme was extended, I can now travel anywhere in England on local buses for ‘free’. A billion pounds of public money would be spent to give the disabled and over 60’s the freedom of the busways. I, like just about everyone else assumed that this billion was going to come from Central Government. A few Whitehall civil servants sworn to secrecy by Gordon knew but they weren’t telling. They’d been sworn to secrecy hadn’t they? The quote below is from the Government’s web site and you can see how much money is coming from Central Government. So where is the rest coming from? The local authority that’s where. It’s public money isn’t it? Look at the second quote below, from the same source. Note the question uses the word guarantee, the answer, cunningly doesn’t.

1st quote
“4. What will this cost?
The Government is providing additional funds of up to £212m a year to pay for the national concession in England.
This is in addition to the extra funding each year provided for the previous enhancement to the scheme from 2006 (currently some £377m for 2008/9).”

Now I am not sure if the above means £337million is being spent this year or £549 million, both are a long way short of one billion.

2nd quote
“24. Will the Government guarantee that councils will be no worse off as a result of this change?
It is in all our interests to ensure that local authorities are adequately funded for the national concession. The Government is aware of concerns about funding and consulted those with an interest, including local authorities and bus operators, on funding and reimbursement mechanisms. WE BELIEVE that the funding provided to local authorities is sufficient to meet the cost of the scheme.”

The question asks will the Government guarantee but the answer doesn't actually guarantee anything. It just says “WE BELEIVE”. There are more people believe the world is flat than believe the funding is sufficient to meet the costs and they all work at the Treasury and can believe what every they like. They do after all have all the money and a reputation for not giving any away without serious amounts of blood being spilt.

So we, and other local authorities in the same boat (Titanic) are well and truly screwed. I suppose at the next general election we could vote Gordon Brown out but that would mean letting David Cameron in. Either way we’re screwed.

So we can either ask the disabled and over 60's to stop using buses, or we can write to Gordon Brown, address 10 Downing Street and include the second quote above in the letter and ask him if he agrees that local authorities are getting sufficient funding, or we can lie back and think of England.

Have a nice day!