Bristol City Council's conditional support for improved rail services

Bristol City Council's Cabinet last night (Thursday) amended its draft budget to support improved services on the Severn Beach Rail Line and to further increase extra investment planned for street cleaning and care for older people.

However, the cabinet proposed to cap the amount the council will pay towards the improved rail services and is calling on First Great Western to come up with a 'realistic and affordable' price for delivering improved train frequencies on the Severn Beach line.

Council Leader Cllr Barbara Janke, said: "It is critical that local authorities and their council taxpayers are not seen as a soft touch who will provide a blank cheque to private companies such as rail and bus operators. We have a duty to ensure best value for the people of Bristol.

"We will want to ensure that any council subsidy for these rail services is comparable with the level of subsidy we currently provide for supported non-commercial bus services  - which meet essential social needs and are often the only way people in some communities have of getting around the city.

"Some of the figures that have been bandied about for the likely cost of support for this improved rail service are simply unaffordable and it would be rash and irresponsible just to include whatever sum First Great Western demanded in our budget proposals.

"It is now up to the company to come forward with a realistic and affordable proposals for the improved service. We wll also want to be assured that they have effective systems in place to collect all the fares due from passengers and can, therefore, maximise their revenue income from the line. If necessary, we are prepared to consider the possibility of some additional capital investment in CCTV systems at stations to assist the rail company to ensure this."

The amendments tabled at last night's meeting, means that the Cabinet include £140,000 in its proposed 2007/08 budget to support additional services on the rail line during the first quarter of operation between Winter 2007and Spring 2008.

The council's three year financial plan will be changed to allow for full year costs of up to £450,000.

The Cabinet also plans to increase the sums already included in their draft budget for round-the-clock street cleaning and older people's services.

A further £200,000 will be added to the extra support planned for street cleaning whilst £48,000 more will help develop new services for older people.

The additional resources have become available thanks in part to a successful crackdown by the council on fraudulent claims for 'lone household' discounts on council tax bills. 

The drive uncovered several thousand claimants who were found to be living with a partner or adult family member, despite claiming the 25% discount on their bills.

The council also secured a better than expected deal to buy 100% renewable energy for its street lighting, which has freed up some resources that might not otherwise have been available.

With the amendments, the Cabinet's draft budget will now provide for:

£1.65 million to deliver improved adult community care services, including new intensive packages of care for some 160 older people and adults with severe learning difficulties (previously £1.6m) £450,000 to permanently fund round-the-clock street cleaning across the city and introduce the latest mechanical sweeping equipment to ensure the highest quality service (previously £200,000); £190,000 to significantly increase the library materials fund to buy more books, DVDs and other materials and extend library opening times across the city; £55,000 to support a network of 275 new mini recycling centres at blocks of flats £35,000 to humanely tackle the problem of the city's rising seagull population; £820,000 to maintain off-peak bus routes and park and ride services in the face of increasing operators costs - and speed up the legal processes needed to introduce traffic management and bus priority schemes. £140,000 to support the first quarter's operation of an improved service on the Severn Beach Rail Line (new item)

The 2007/08 budget would deliver the first phase of the three-year Medium Term Financial Plan published earlier this year. The plan aims to invest at least an extra £21 million by the end of of the decade in the council's top priorities.

The new investment would be delivered while keeping council tax rises within government target levels - with a rise of no more than 4.44% on Band D council tax bills in 2007/08. (Please note this is marginally lower than the 4.5% originally proposed)

The annual revenue investment would be in addition to the council's multi-million pound capital building programme that will deliver:

a new-look Colston Hall by 2008; a new Museum of Bristol by 2009; the Building Schools for the Future programme to transform most secondary schools by 2010; the Healthplex at Hengrove, providing a new leisure centre integrated with local health services by 2010; further improvements to library buildings, including some new libraries; initial design and development costs for refurbishment and improvement of South Bristol Pool; further improvements to disabled access at council buildings, including a lift to provide access to all floors at the City Museum.

Cllr Janke added: "The council's finances are in much better shape than they were a couple of years ago. This has been recognised by the Audit Commissin who recently gave us an improved rating for the way we manage our resources.

"As a result, we are in a position to provide further support for public transport, deliver new and better ways of caring for vulnerable people and make unprecedented levels of investment in library services and street cleaning. These are the issues that come up time and time again in our consultations, surveys and discussions with residents - so it is right that we make them our spending priorities.

"This budget alone won't meet all our challenges overnight but it represents  a real step forward and is good news for the people of Bristol."

Cabinet's proposals and any amendments will be considered at the council meeting on February 27 when the budget and council tax levels for 2007/08 will be set.