BUS PASS FIASCO - COUNCIL IN APPEAL TO GOVERNMENT

Published on Fri 11th May 2007

The County Council has resolved to write to the Government calling for a speedy solution to the crisis which has arisen in the scheme for free bus passes for pensioners.

The Council's resolution follows a Liberal Democrat proposal which commanded the full support of the Council with the exception of the 12 Labour members who abstained in the vote.

It has recently emerged that the Government has failed to grant local authorities the necessary finance to support the scheme, and district councils have had to help pay the bus company charges with their own funds. As more and more pensioners take up the free bus passes and use them more regularly, and with the Government proposing to extend the scheme across Authority boundaries, Local Government anticipates an escalating and unmanageable burden without further Government assistance.

While Gloucestershire County Council has limited powers to address the problem, the Liberal Democrat motion has ensured that the Council will convey to Government its eagerness for the scheme to continue and its anxiety that Government should swiftly develop a solution removing the burden of cost from the already underfunded local authorities.

Cllr Dr John Cordwell, Liberal Democrat spokesman for Transport, proposed the motion. Cllr Cordwell said: "This scheme was very welcome among pensioners who have shown their enthusiasm by the extent of the uptake of bus passes and the frequency of their use. But now costs are increasing by 10% per annum against an increase in Government funding of less than 5%, and the budgets of the district councils are already ill equipped to make up the deficit. I welcome the Government's good intentions with this scheme, but now they really have to make good their promise and fund it properly for the sake of all those pensioners who have come to rely on their bus passes."

Liberal Democrat group leader, Cllr Jeremy Hilton, said: "Unfortunately there is very little that Gloucestershire County Council can do to help resolve this issue, but we do hope our letter to the Secretary of State will help him appreciate the depth of concern here in Gloucestershire."

Cllr Hilton added: "I am pleased the Conservatives appreciated the importance of this issue and helped us carry our motion, but I am disappointed that the Labour group withheld their support."