Norfolk winners and losers in bus plan

Plans to redistribute funding for concessionary bus fares schemes will leave Norfolk with both winners and losers, it has emerged.

Norwich stands to get an extra £1.4m under the proposed changes to the 2010-11 funding.

But three Norfolk councils are among the 64 authorities around the country, including London, which could lose out.

The city council has long claimed it is hard hit by a concessionary bus fare formula because of its high number of visitors, while areas such as neighbouring Broadland actually benefit.

Since April 2008, people with bus passes, such as the elderly and disabled, have been entitled to free bus travel at off peak times, with councils reimbursing local bus companies for those fares.

The city council argued that because it is responsible for paying back money for all fares which start in the city, it pays back a proportionally higher amount than other district councils.

Now, after hard lobbying by a group of councils nationwide, the government has come up with a new way of carving up its “special grant funding”, which is in addition to the amount provided each year for concessionary travel.

Broadland District Council would see its special grant funding reduced by £130,000 under the proposals, which have now been put out to consultation.

North Norfolk District Council stands to lose the most, with a £230,000 proposed cut, and Breckland could see a decrease of £160,000.

The winners include South Norfolk, which could benefit by £230,000, while Yarmouth's £840,000 could be bumped up to £1,030,000. King's Lynn and West Norfolk's allocation would remain unchanged at £530,000.

Today Simon Woodbridge, leader Broadland District Council, said he would need to find out if this would leave the council with a shortfall and said the funding of the scheme had been “awful” ever since it was introduced.

He said: “We proposed that we pool all the Norfolk money so there wouldn't be any winners or losers in Norfolk - instead some have received more money than actual demand.

“We will have to go back and made sure the money they are taking away from Broadland does represent a surplus and they are not trying to distribute the cost to the Broadland council tax payers.”

South Norfolk Council leader John Fuller said he was pleased that it was one of the winners for once, but said he still had concerns that some of the county's councils would be short-changed.

He said: “On the face of it this is good news as we have been running at a loss on the scheme.

“It vindicates our decision to stick with the Norfolk-wide scheme so that people in rural areas, which often have just two buses a day - one in the morning and one at night - to travel starting at 8.30am, rather than 9.30am.”

Charles Clarke, Norwich South MP who has been lobbying the government on behalf of the city council, received a letter from Sadiq Khan, minister of state for transport, which outlines his plans for the changes to the last year of the original three-year settlement.

In it he said there were around 30 councils who had “a genuine cause for concern over the level of grant they have received.”

Mr Khan: “The changes we are proposing build on the success of the national bus concession and will not in any way affect older or disabled bus users who use the scheme. I now look forward to hearing views from authorities and hope to publish the final grant distribution early in the New Year.”