Transport to be hit in ^25m Wiltshire Council budget cut

[whole diary]

[bobm]

From the Swindon Advertiser

Transport services are set to take a hit as part of proposals to cut Wiltshire Council^s budget by ^25m in 2014/15.
 
The proposed budget, agreed by the council^s cabinet on Tuesday, will cut funding for bus services they deem to be inefficient, saving ^176,000, bring family information services in-house, saving ^120,000, and cut ^39,000 worth of funding to the region^s Link bus services by withdrawing 5p per mile of support funding.
 
The budget will now be considered by councillors at the full council meeting taking place at County Hall, in Trowbridge, on Tuesday, February 25.
 
Wiltshire Council leader Jane Scott said some tough decisions had to be made when preparing this year^s budget.
 
Coun Scott said: ^This has not been a very easy budget but there were two things we wanted to ensure.
 
"The first was that we protected frontline services as much as possible and the second was that we wanted to keep the council tax down as we know people are struggling.^

The proposals will see Wiltshire Council^s element of the council tax frozen.

The budget will also see around ^18m invested in improving some of their other services.
 
These include investing an extra ^10m in highways schemes, an additional ^3.6m in supporting older and vulnerable people, an extra ^1.3m in health provision and giving staff a one per cent pay rise.
 
Before producing their budget, the council held a public consultation. Residents wanted to see further investment in being road maintenance, adult social care services and the provision of affordable housing.
 
Wiltshire Council^s budget for 2014/15 is ^333m, which is ^7.5m lower than last year.
 
The council^s Settlement Funding Allocation grant from central Government has been reduced by ^12.8m to ^63.2m this year.

Wiltshire councillor Dick Tonge, cabinet member for finance, said that these cutbacks have had a major bearing on this year^s proposed budget.
 
He said: ^We have again had to face up to considerable challenges following reduced central government funding and the increased demands on council services, particularly for those who are most vulnerable in our communities.
 
^Our vision to create stronger communities remains at the heart of everything we do and this budget helps us to achieve that.^
 
To see the proposed budget in full visit www.wiltshire.gov.uk

[Rhydgaled]

From the Swindon Advertiser

will cut funding for bus services they deem to be inefficient, saving ^176,000, bring family information services in-house, saving ^120,000, and cut ^39,000 worth of funding to the region^s Link bus services by withdrawing 5p per mile of support funding.
 
...

The budget will also see around ^18m invested in improving some of their other services.
 
These include investing an extra ^10m in highways schemes,

...

Residents wanted to see further investment in being road maintenance, adult social care services and the provision of affordable housing.

So, is the "extra ^10m in highways schemes" for road maintenance or is it new bypass-style schemes? If the latter, this is the same sort of very irresponsible transport policy we have here in S.W.Wales (although the schemes I have in mind are on a WAG^» (Welsh Assembly Government - about) level rather than council level). There was an item on the news not that long ago which indicated that shortage of funds might force closure of rural roads deemed unaffordable to repair, and the extreme weather that has hit us recently has been blamed on climate change by some.

Irresponsible, then, to spend money on 'provide and promote' for increased car use while cutting public transport funding. Forget things like upgrading roads to dual carriageway (my local AM's favored transport policy, unfortunately) and put that money either into maintaining existing roads or encouraging use of public transport, or a bit of both.

[Phil]

Two words: Westbury by-pass*

*OK maybe it's three. Sorry.

[Lee]

According to the Wiltshire Council Financial Plan 2014/2015, the extra ^10 million is part of a six year programme of additional works increasing annual expenditure on structural road maintenance from 2014/15. This was approved by Wiltshire Council Cabinet in October 2013.

They have made the decision to prioritise this partly based on a household survey that found 69.7% of respondents in favour of spending more money on maintenance of existing roads.

Interestingly, the same survey found 30% of respondents in favour of spending more money on transport co-ordination and bus services, only just short of the 35.6% of respondents in favour of spending more money on new roads and road improvements.

Perhaps most striking though is that the survey found 18.1% of respondents in favour of spending less money on new roads and road improvements, compared to only 7.8% of respondents in favour of spending less money on transport co-ordination and bus services...