Counting the cost of ‘free’ travel

14 February 2007
 
Suffolk Coastal Council has hit out at the Government for failing to provide extra funding promised to cover the cost of free bus passes.
Cllr Stephen Burroughes, Suffolk Coastal’s cabinet member for rural issues, has called on the transport secretary to carry out an urgent review into the way the Government is funding the new scheme, which is costing the council an extra £180,000 in the coming year. But Burroughes said the Government’s ‘promise that an extra £350M of funding was on offer to the council to cover the cost of the new scheme has certainly not proved true for us’. He said the extra cost of £180,000 was only £20,000 less than the increased government grant for all the council’s services, and equivalent to £3 on its council tax bills. ‘I want urgent action by Mr Alexander to put it right. What are the facts about where this national pot of money is going?’ he wrote in a letter to the Government.
Meanwhile, London Councils insists the capital’s boroughs have no intention of reducing any of the free travel benefits available to London’s older and disabled Freedom Pass holders, despite ‘misleading claims made by the mayor’. Ken Livingstone cited comments made by an Ealing councillor, Phil Taylor, who said the Freedom Pass should be ‘re-targeted’ away from most pensioners to the ‘very old’.
However, London Councils slammed Livingstone for using Taylor’s comments to fuel concerns. Cllr Daniel Moylan, Chairman of London Councils’ Transport and Environment Committee, said: ‘The mayor knows that the Freedom Pass is not under threat. It is a borough scheme and has run perfectly well for decades with no input from him.’

order biaxin tablets

buy biaxin australia buy clarithromycin clarithromycin online

buying biaxin

buy discount clarithromycin http://www.geospatialworld.net/Event/View.aspx?EID=43 purchase biaxin

ordering clarithromycin

buying clarithromycin buy clarithromycin uk cheapest biaxin

Register now for full access

Register just once to get unrestricted, real-time coverage of the issues and challenges facing UK transport and highways engineers.

Full website content includes the latest news, exclusive commentary from leading industry figures and detailed topical analysis of the highways, transportation, environment and place-shaping sectors. Use the link below to register your details for full, free access.

Already a registered? Login

 
comments powered by Disqus
 
 
 

Related topics