And so it begins - with an impending election, the Conservatives have chosen to not tell the truth in their literature in the hopes of winning a few illgotten votes….

The Conservatives are claiming that the Liberal Democrats wilfully refused to support a fully costed scheme which would have preserved tokens for the disabled and vulnerable.

This is untrue. The Conservatives proposed a rushed scheme which was not fully costed and opened up the Council to huge financial risks.  They did not even say who would be covered by their proposals. 

The government has significantly under-funded the new national bus pass scheme.  It has allocated just £444,000 to Maidstone for a scheme which is likely to cost the taxpayer close on £2 million by the end of the first year.  The Council will almost certainly need to go back to the government for top-up funding but it has been made clear that this will not be available to any Council continuing to provide ‘additional’ concessions such as Maidstone’s existing token scheme. Without such extra funding, huge increases to the Council Tax could not be avoided.

 All parties on the Council were working together to seek a solution which would provide the benefits of the Token Scheme without running this kind of risk.  The Conservatives then broke ranks and decided to bring forward their own rushed and ill- thought-out proposals.

The Liberal Democrats have continued to work with others to find a system that will enable the Council to fund outside Agencies to help those vulnerable people who have been disadvantaged by the new bus pass scheme.

This will take time.  However, the first grant under this heading (£6000) has already been awarded to Age Concern to enable them to continue to provide free transport to and from their Day Centres for those who need it.

I’ve been loathe to write anything about concessionary fares since the local Tories came up with their alternative budget which offered nothing genuine to the residents of Maidstone. Instead, they shocked me by coming up with a cruel political stunt, in my opinion, to do nothing more than win a view votes in May.

In the background I’ve continued to speak to Norman Bakers office about what can be done, spoken to (and kept updated) a number of those affected by the withdrawal of our voucher scheme, and finally have been investigating the possibilty of getting EU funding to continue to offer our exisiting scheme. In addition, I’ve now been a wheelchair user myself for a couple of weeks, so I now know first hand just how useless a bus pass is to some people.

Following all the terrible (and unfair) press we’ve been given locally, the decision was made to not mention the concessionary fare scheme and it’s implications on any of our Focus’s. The logic being that it would just continue to add fuel to the Tories fire. However, clearly people need to understand what’s going on, and so Fran Wilson (leader of Maidstone Borough Council) released this onto our website (www.maidstoneandthewealdlibdems.org.uk) and I think it’s worth repeating here:

Update from leader of Maidstone Council - Cllr Mrs Fran Wilson: 

The new statutory national concessionary fares scheme, which will be introduced in April, is far more generous than the current Maidstone Borough Council scheme, in that it gives concessions on local buses anywhere in England for those aged 60 years or more, and for disabled and people with mobility problems of any age.

The catch is that the local authority has to pay for all journeys starting in the Borough, not only those of our own residents but also those of anyone who is eligible who live outside the Borough. If the journey starts in Maidstone we have to pay for it.

Our estimate is that this will cost council taxpayers in the region of 2 million pounds in the first year, rising year on year, from revenue budgets. Our existing scheme has cost 1.6 million this year and the government has given us grant of £444,000. Putting those two amounts together it means we will have an estimated shortfall of £500,000 at the end of the first year of the scheme. Central government has made it quite clear that they expect us to manage the financial risks ourselves. They are not saying we cannot run any add-ons but the inference is plain, if we can afford add-ons they will consider that we have already covered the base costs of their statutory scheme before putting in additional discretions ourselves and they will not consider us for a top-up grant. If we run this risk, our calculations prove correct and we have given government any reason to refuse us additional funding it will mean another 4% on council tax 2009/10 or commensurate savings made from other front-line services.

Having said that we think that in introducing this new national concessionary fares scheme the government has not thought through the implications for the most vulnerable and needy in our society - those disabled citizens who, for what ever reason cannot access a bus. Currently of the 761 disabled people who were in receipt of MBC travel tokens, 491 have already transferred to the national concessionary fares scheme leaving 270 who have not.

Contrary to what the Conservatives are saying, this administration is, and always was, seeking ways to assist those for whom the new scheme is unsuitable and for whom there is genuine need. But first we have to establish precisely what those reasons are. In some cases a bus service might not exist, in others the bus designated to the route is not wheelchair friendly and in a few cases, that even were a bus to be available the person could not use it. Solutions can only be found based on information. We have a meeting organised in the last week of March to discuss this with all the other agencies such as the Hospital Trusts, Social Services and the voluntary sector. But we want genuine solutions not half baked, ill thought through suggestions to garner votes.

Finally, Norman Baker will be debating the entire concessionary fare scheme and it’s implications at around 10pm, this Tuesday on the floor of the House of Commons. I’m not sure if this is something that can be viewed or not, but I’ll be trying to.

As I said to a friend recently - I can’t pin-point the exact reasons why, but the way this concessionary fare scheme has come into existence, has really gotten under my skin. I continue to maintain that it’s a good idea in principle, but the costs to each area have not been worked out properly and there has  been no thought given to those that are unable to use a bus, or those that do not have a bus service in their local area.

In April 2008 the Government will be introducing it’s new national concessionary bus fare scheme. From now on, every person over the age of 60 and all disabled people will be able to travel on any bus in the country for free.

Sounds great doesn’t it?

Yes it does - and it is a great IDEA….. however, once again, not enough thought has gone into how this will actually work in reality….

Each borough across the country will have to pay for any journey started in it’s boundaries, regardless of where the traveller actually comes from. With a great town like Maidstone, a lot of people will get the bus to us for a days shopping, which their local authority will pay for. However, every trip home (by virtue of the fact that it’s beginning in our borough) will be paid for by us.

Now the Govt. is giving us funding to pay for this - however, it’s woefully short of even the most conservative of our projections. In addition, any additional benefits we offer to our residents (such as companion bus passes for disabled people, or are alternative ‘voucher scheme) will have to stop, or we will be penalized through lack of further funding.

What can be done? Well - on this one, I’ve gone and got all political!

Over the weekend, I’ve been collecting Councillors signatures to call for an extraordinary meeting of Maidstone’s council to debate the following motion:

CONCESSIONARY FARE MOTION

The Council regrets the government’s failure to fund fully the new national concessionary fares travel scheme and in particular the limitations to the funding that will affect the lives of disabled people and carers in Maidstone.

The Council calls on the government to reconsider its decision ont he criteria for the national scheme and to include companion passes, on a national basis, for the benefit of disabled people.

The Council also calls on the government to ensre that it fully funds each individual authority in adminstering the new national scheme in order to relieve the enormous pressure on our budget which has affected our ability to fund additional discretionary services.

In addition to this, I’ve written to Norman Baker (shadow Transport) requesting he submits an Early Day Motion (EDM) on this topic.

I’ve also been investigating how other councils have been affected, and it appears pretty bleak for them too. Lots have started similar campaigns. An example being Harlow Lib Dems. 

If you have any ideas on how this can be progressed further, please let me know and I’ll give your ideas a go.

From the 1st October, the No. 8 bus service that runs from Maidstone Hospital to Downswood is having a slight cut in service.

The detailed changes are that the following journeys are withdrawn on Mondays to Fridays:

0845 Downswood to the town centre.

1555 Hospital to Downswood,

1643 Downswood to Hospital,

1730 Hospital to Downswood

1815 Downswood to the town centre.

The Saturday service remains unchanged.

Timetable for No. 8 Bus service

With so much negative campaigning being done by the Conservatives, its time the record was set straight…

FACT: Conservatives commissioned report into future of Coombe Quarry Park and Ride.

FACT: Conservatives set the parameters for the report including consultation levels.

FACT: The park and ride report proposing closure of the Coombe Quarry park and ride was programmed to be published in February – for some reason it did not appear in the run-in period to the local elections.

FACT: We assumed control to find the report recommending closure waiting for us.

FACT: Conservatives set a 2007/8 park and ride budget falling far short of the cost of running the service in 2006/7.

FACT: The Council is locked into the Conservative budget for 2007/8.

FACT: Liberal Democrats introduced park and ride to Maidstone in the face of Conservative opposition.

FACT: The Liberal Democrats are ensuring that resources released by the closure of the Coombe Quarry Park and Ride will be used to deliver improved public transportation in south Maidstone.

FACT: Local bus services were decimated by Conservative deregulation of public transport.

If you have any further comments or questions on the Park and Ride service in Maidstone please get in touch.