Kent County Council admits that funding for concessionary bus scheme to begin at 9.00am is available

A report to Kent County Council’s cabinet this week has revealed that the necessary cash to fund a return to a 9am start time for the concessionary bus travel scheme IS available.  The Government has provided councils in Kent an extra £4.5 million this year to meet the extra costs of introducing the new national concessionary bus scheme which allows free off peak bus travel across England. 

Dartford Borough Council, along with most other borough and district councils in Kent, has been highly critical of the funding arrangements put in place by Government. The council has refused to stick to the 9am start time that applied to the previous Kent countywide concessionary scheme that ended in March and has chosen instead to implement the statutory 9.30am start time.

This week’s report by KCC officers estimates that there is likely to be a funding surplus of around £700,000 across the whole of Kent. It says that ALL of the Kent districts, with the exception of Tunbridge Wells, will have money left over at the end of the year.

The KCC report also suggests that the additional cost of allowing pass holders in Kent to travel for free between 9am and 9.30am would only run to around £150,000: a figure that could easily be met out of the projected surplus.

“This report confirms that there is more than enough money available to Dartford to fund the extra half hour. The council has no excuse now not to return to the 9am start time;” said Dr Stoate.

“I think that Dartford Council has handled the introduction of the new scheme extremely badly. They’ve tried to use this issue as a stick to beat the Government but they’ve done so at the expense of some of Dartford’s most vulnerable residents. I think they now should have the good grace to admit they’ve got things wrong and go back to the 9am start time.”

“It also begs the question what exactly is the council doing with this money if it’s not spending it on concessionary fares?”

“This issue shows how hollow the council’s repeated complaints about ‘insufficient government funding’ are. The council’s credibility on this issue has now been completely shot to pieces.”

Notes

The KCC report to Cabinet states: “The introduction of the National Scheme has been funded by a special additional grant to the districts. The apportionment to Kent as a whole, at £4.5 million for 2008/09 is estimated to exceed the costs of running the scheme this year. We estimate that £3.8m will be required and that all of the Kent districts with the exception of Tunbridge Wells, will have surpluses from the additional payments made by Government. The additional cost of allowing pass holders to travel fro free in between 9am and 9.30am has been estimated at some £150,000.”