By David Williams
3 February 2011
Councils have denied government claims that they are axing bus services needlessly, arguing that the severity and speed of funding cuts leave them with no choice.
The row broke out after a survey published by the Campaign for Better Transport found that 70% of councils were planning cuts to bus services. This followed a study from the Local Government Association, published last week, which also showed that a combination of funding cuts and the removal of ring-fences around some grants was putting services at risk.
The LGA found that North Yorkshire County Council faced a shortfall of 46%, or £4.5m, in funding for concessionary fares, while Nottingham City Council is going to lose 23% for its free travel schemes.
Compounding the problem, the £60m rural bus grant has been rolled into the general local government formula settlement, which will drop by 28% over the next four years. And central government subsidies for bus operators are set to fall by 20%, or £300m, from 2012/13, threatening the viability of some routes.
But transport minister Norman Baker said most services outside London were commercially run, so did not rely on direct council funding, and that investment had been made in green buses.
He added: ‘I accept that the funding settlement for local authorities is challenging.
‘It’s good to see some councils are approaching this imaginatively, finding savings in procurement and council officers’ salaries. However, some are just reaching for the axe.’
Peter Box, chair of the LGA’s economy and transport board, disagreed. He said: ‘The speed and depth of the cuts being made mean that conventional efficiency drives, such as shared services, will fall well short of delivering the kind of savings needed.
‘With subsidies being cut… some buses will run less often while routes that are less profitable are likely to be scrapped. The unprecedented cuts councils are having to make mean they will not be able to support those services.’
He called for ‘urgent reform’ of how bus subsidies are allocated and overseen to ensure taxpayers received value for money.
A spokesman for Somerset County Council said 46% of subsidies for bus operators would have to be cut over the next three years. That amounted to £3.7m at a time when the council was trying to find savings of £37m over the next financial year.
‘The operators will make the ultimate decision on which routes they will continue to operate.’
Nigel Keohane, head of research at the New Local Government Network, said difficult decisions were ‘unavoidable’ despite Baker’s suggestions for cutting costs without stopping services.
Keohane said the bus service operators’ grant should be devolved to councils so they could use it more strategically to retain routes that were not viable without support.
