Fares Fair?
 In
''We're in the money' we saw how the
Government paid an extra £486,000 to Fylde Council so it could introduce a free
concessionary travel scheme for OAP's this year.
We also accused Commissar Coombes of snaffling £205,000 of this money to
cover up his overspending elsewhere.
This meant the Commissar only introduced a limited travel scheme for Fylde's
OAP's, even though the Government had actually given him more than enough to
provide completely free travel for all of them.
This is an unusual
situation. Fylde almost never gets a fair share of any money the Government
hands out, (and here the Government allocated a quite substantial £350 million
nationwide) because the Government usually hands it out according to its 'Deprivation
Index' and Fylde is one of the UK's wealthier (and thus less deprived)
Boroughs. Typically we are around 300th out of about 350 Boroughs in the
deprivation stakes. Usually we get the tail end of what is left after the
deprived places have been paid out.
So why was it different this time?
How come Fylde got one of the more generous settlements for the concessionary
travel scheme?
The answer is that Government decided to distribute the
money purely on the number of pensioners and disabled people in each Borough,
and Fylde's demography is very heavily skewed toward pensioners. Fylde got a
stash of cash because it has a lot of pensioners.
Some places, (like Tyne
& Wear in the North East - who are used to getting bigger settlements based on
their high deprivation index) are squealing loudly about a shortfall, and how
they can't afford to meet the cost of the free travel scheme, whilst others have
used all the money they were given, and provided totally free travel for all
OAPs.
So why is it only now that the story of Commissar Coombs' duplicity
and disregard for his electorate is emerging?
Well, using the public
speaking opportunity at a meeting of the St Anne's on the Sea Town Council
(which is completely independent of Fylde Borough Council) a local resident
complained about the travel scheme introduced in Fylde.
After hearing her story, the Town Council decided to write to Fylde Council
and ask if free bus travel could be implemented.
This inquiry - picked up
by the local paper - has provoked John Coombes to comment. He is reported as
telling the Lytham St Anne's Express that the scheme cannot be amended.
This is not true.
What he means is he does not intend to amend it now he has already used half
of what he was given on other things.
He could still amend the scheme, or
even fully implement it, using just part of the millions of pounds he has in his
various reserve funds at Fylde Council, but it seems he doesn't want to.
This is probably the first time that the St Anne's Town Council has
exercised the mandate given to them by the people of this town to hold the
Borough Council to account. By highlighting the problem, and providing a
platform for public comment, they have caused the Commissar to account for his
actions
The 'Express' quotes him as saying "I will not implement a
Labour manifesto to the detriment of the residents of Fylde. It was a case of
keep the baths open and keep our streets clean, or satisfy the needs of a small
number of people. I have to be thinking about all residents of the Fylde
borough."
Apart from his usual overt and unwelcome politicisation of
what should be a decision made in the best interests of local people, this again
is a disingenuous comment. His accounts show he used half the money provided for
free bus travel to cover some of the £700,000 overspend he already had, not on
keeping the baths open, or on street cleaning.
And as for it only benefiting a small number of people, it should be obvious
to anyone that the reason he got so much for the OAP travel scheme is because of
the exceptionally high number of pensioners in his Borough.
counterbalance expects this 'minority' of residents to remember he
siphoned off half their bus-pass money when he asks for their support at the
next election. But it gets worse. The scheme he has introduced is also very confusing, and
verging on a Monty Python sketch.
Advice being given by our local councils includes the following. (Remember,
these instructions are for pensioners) |
"Free travel will be available
on bus journeys that are wholly within the borough after 0930 weekdays and all
day Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays.
For journeys before 0930 or
wholly outside the borough, but within Lancashire, there will be no change to
your existing concession.
After 0930 weekdays and all day Saturdays,
Sundays and Bank Holidays, through journeys that cross into other
district/borough council areas will be charged at a single flat fare of 50p for
the over 60's for an introductory period. If you are a disabled passenger, the
existing concession will apply.
Before 0930 weekdays the existing
concession rate will apply"
(Are you still with us here gentle
reader, or have you already given up in confusion? It
continues...)
"Return fares will not be available before 0930 Monday
to Friday during the introductory period on cross border fares.
At the
end of the introductory period, (late spring), trips into other district/borough
council areas will be free to the pass holder's district boundary. For the
remainder of the journey, from the boundary to the destination, the current
concessionary fare will apply.
The bus ticket machine will automatically
calculate the fare. The above time restrictions will also apply.
Concessionary fares will also apply to journeys into the neighbouring areas of
Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire.
The arrangements with West Yorkshire where Lancashire pass holders could
travel wholly within West Yorkshire at concessionary rates have been withdrawn"
So there we are, clear as mud, isn't it? Not only will pensioners have
to grapple with 'the system' they will also have to tell the driver which
borough they are travelling to, and whether it is in Lancashire - which, of course, for these purposes, places like Blackpool are not .
The mind
boggles. We foresee long queues at bus stops as the conductor's hand hovers over
the buttons as prospective passengers try to remember the name of the borough
they are travelling to (We know quit a few who don't know which borough they
live in now!)
Perhaps the Commissar likes to keep it confusing. If fewer
pensioners can understand it, less will use it, and he will 'save' even more.
Try this for size
counterbalance has an Auntie Gladys who lives in
Poulton, which is in Wyre Borough. She wants to visit her friend Alice, who
lives in Garstang, also in Wyre Borough. So on that basis our Auntie Gladys should
be able to travel free after 9.30am.
However, the bus she gets is the No
42, which uses the main Garstang to Blackpool road. For part of its journey,
this route crosses into, then out, of Fylde Borough (see picture).
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So in
the introductory period, according to the scheme's rules, our Auntie Gladys will
have to pay a flat fare of 50p, even though both the start and end of the
journey are in the same borough and it ought to be free. After the introductory
period, she will have to pay what she paid before the improved scheme was
introduced. She says it is "Some improvement"
We wonder whether she could
(literally) get around his problem by getting a bus to Fleetwood (yes, we know
it's in the opposite direction), then caching the ferry to Knott End (which as
public transport might also be free under the concession), then the bus from
Knott End to Garstang. That way it might achieve the free travel she was
promised.
Of course, if councils like Fylde had spent all the money they
were given for concessionary travel on what the were supposed to spend it on,
rather than siphoning half of it off to cover their own financial mismanagement,
our Auntie Gladys (and lots of other OAP's) wouldn't have to be coughing up to
the modern version of Dick Turpin in the guise of John Coombes exercising his
modern day 'highway robbery' Dated: 14 May 2006 
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