£3.8m public bus boost including Welshpool “not affordable”

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

A funding increase of £3.8 million to improve bus links around Welshpool and four other Powys towns is “not affordable at the moment”, a councillor has warned.

At a meeting of the council’s Economy Residents and Communities scrutiny committee, councillors probed draft budget proposals for savings and costs.

Amongst the hundreds of pages of documents that form the Powys County Council budget for next year, two lines in the appendix for costs pressures say that £3.8 million has been earmarked to be spent on “changes to public transport to support sustainable Powys vision”.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Raiff Devlin quizzed senior transport chiefs on the £3.8million which could in time be “cancelled” by grant funding.

Cllr Devlin said: “Could you provide more information on what it is and what it will deliver?”

Cabinet member for transport, Liberal Democrat Cllr Jackie Charlton, said: “This sets aside what we think we’ll need to invest. When we were working up the plans for sustainable Powys, we have enhanced the (public transport) offer and think it may require a further £3.8 million to deliver and that’s going through to the budget.

“We think it’s quite an exciting project and it is investing to save and to make sure we have a transport system that is fit for purpose.”

Head of Transport, John Forsey, explained that the intention is to improve public transport links around the five core sustainable Powys towns, Brecon, Llandrindod Wells, Newtown, Welshpool and Ystradgynlais.

Mr Forsey added: “It’s the estimated gross cost of that extra provision.”

He said that the council were “working” with Transport for Wales and the Welsh Government to “achieve” grant funding.

Once these talks finish, Mr Forsey said that the councillors would be updated on the project.

Cllr Devlin said: “If it’s not grant-funded, that will be an additional £3.8 million on the revenue budget.

“It concerns me as we don’t have the information on how the budget would be balanced, the business case or any savings. At this moment in time, I don’t believe we can afford this.”

Chief Officer for Place, Matt Perry, explained that some of the £3.8 million would come from a Welsh Government bus network grant worth £1.7 million to the council.

Mr Perry added other “investment opportunities” were being explored and Ceredigion council was on board in a whole Mid Wales transport project.

Earlier this month, the Welsh Government stated that Mid Wales would be used as a testing bed for proposals that will be part of the government’s “Bus Reform Bill”.

Later in the meeting, the committee looked to make recommendations on the proposals.

These comments will be added to the documents ahead of a full council meeting to vote on the budget on February 20, and Cllr Devlin brought up the bus route funding again.

He said: “I’m not entirely satisfied nor assured that we know exactly where the grant funding will meet our own funding in that increase.”

He feared that signing long-term contracts with bus companies for new routes would fall back on the council to pay for if government funding dries up.

Committee Vice-Chair, Plaid Cymru’s Cllr Gary Mitchell, added: “I get the point if the money is not there, how do we sustain it?

“If we move to the sustainable Powys model then bus services in rural areas will be woeful and just won’t work.”