Free elderly travel spells cash dilemma for council

9:31am Saturday 9th February 2008

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Free travel for the elderly and disabled has left a local council with a tough cash dilemma.

Pensioners and disabled people in South Ribble will be able to travel throughout England free of charge during off-peak times on local bus services from April 1 this year.

Although bus travel will be free to residents who are aged 60 and over or are disabled, it will fall to local councils to meet the costs of every single journey.

South Ribble council chiefs claim the extra £266,000, promised by the Government to pay for the changes, will fall a long way short of what is needed.

According to council accountants they will need at least £337,000 in the next financial year alone to pay for the changes, leaving them with a shortfall of £71,000 or more.

Councillor Michael Green, cabinet member with responsibility for corporate and support services, said: "The Government is again introducing a new service and leaving local councils like ours to pick up the bill.

"We agree that older and disabled people in South Ribble deserve to travel for free - but this needs to be properly financed.

"By leaving us with a shortfall of £71,000, and other councils with similar dilemmas, the Government is not facing up to the responsibility of paying for its new initiative.

"That said, we are doing everything we can to mitigate the impact this is likely to have on our other services."

Currently, pensioners or disabled people can travel for free within South Ribble but must pay a flat rate of 50p for any bus journey that takes them outside South Ribble boundaries.

In addition, South Ribble Borough Council funds travel for pensioners and disabled passengers at reduced cost within the borough during peak times and for free on the Knott End Ferry and Blackpool Trams.

However, now the council has stated that it is being forced to have a rethink on whether it can afford to continue to provide these benefits under the new nationwide scheme when it comes in from April 1.

Councillor Michael Green, cabinet member with responsibility for corporate and support services, added: "Clearly we would like to retain all the extra benefits we currently provide, but the Government has put us in an impossible situation and we are left with no choice but to make some difficult decisions.

"We have to fund this shortfall somehow and we are talking to other councils to see how best we can do this.

"Unfortunately, it may mean making some changes to the extra benefits currently available."

The Cabinet will meet at the Civic Centre on West Paddock, Leyland, on Wednesday, February 13, at 6pm.

Members of the public are encouraged to attend.