To consider any questions which may have been received from Elected Members and which are asked pursuant to Standing Order No. 11.
Minutes:
The Chief Executive reported that she had received the following question from Councillor Clements in accordance with Standing Order No. 11:
‘Will the Council Leader agree with me that following his meeting with the South Yorkshire Freedom Riders on the 31st October, 2017 and his subsequent exchange of correspondence, it is a reasonable step for this Council to request the South Yorkshire Combined Authority to examine other PTE systems for supporting early concessions to see if these can be repeated in South Yorkshire?’.
Councillor Sir Steve Houghton CBE, Leader of the Council, responded by thanking Councillor Clements for the question. As Members were aware, the Council had had to take some very difficult decisions not only within the Council itself but also at the Passenger Transport Authority because of cutbacks in funding across all public services. Changes had also had to be made to rail concessions as well as part of that process. What the Authority had seen year on year, not just within South Yorkshire but across the country, had been reductions in demand for concessions and that issue was being thoroughly examined as to why this was the case. What had been agreed at a South Yorkshire level was to look at the whole concessionary picture in the light of those demographic changes that had been brought to light. In doing so, an examination would be undertaken of what was being undertaken across South Yorkshire as well as other parts of the country to see what lessons, if any, could be learned but also to see what opportunities there may be for reviewing or improving concessions in the future. There was, of course, no guarantee that anything that had been ‘taken away’ would be reinstated and indeed consideration was also to be given to the possible introduction of concessions for other age groups as it was known that people with young families or those trying to get back to work also had significant challenges and pressures as well as those who had traditionally benefitted from concessionary fares. The Council had a proud record of assisting the disadvantaged and Members would remember the Mi Card scheme which had greatly assisted young families. Due to budgetary restrictions, however, this scheme had had to be removed.
All issues would be considered as part of the review over the next 12 months although he reiterated that there could be no guarantees as the budgetary position into the future was uncertain and given the current economic climate it was anticipated that the Council was likely to face even more financial challenges.
Councillor Clements, thanked the Leader for the response and was pleased to note that he had commented that the issues to be considered were not solely around concessionary fares for the elderly. As a supplementary question, he asked if the Leader would further agree with him that many of the challenges faced by travellers in South Yorkshire using public transport, such as the high fares levied, the lack of direct inter-connectivity between local communities and the paucity of services after 6.00 pm were issues that Barnsley MBC’s representatives should pursue vigorously with the appropriate authorities?
Councillor Sir Steve Houghton CBE thanked Councillor Clements for his supplementary question. Barnsley MBC’s representatives and indeed all Leaders of the South Yorkshire Authorities were always looking at the transport position to see if such matters as those raised could be improved. One of the Council’s priorities was to get people to work and this was a significant problem particularly for those on low pay. Travelling across the borough was not easy and very often people had to use two and sometimes three busses to get to their destination which in turn could be expensive and could put people off taking employment opportunities. These areas certainly needed to be looked at further. The hours of service were also an issue of concern but he reminded Members again that the subsidy that the Authority could put towards bus travel was limited because of the financial situation the Council faced. At the same time the Council recognised that transport was incredibly important not just for work but for leisure, shopping/retail and social activities and the Authority would do all it could to address these issues. Indeed it was hoped that messages would be sent back to Government that the north overall, not just South Yorkshire, was not getting a fair deal on transport and the sooner the Government could provide funding so that the Authority could match services that were provided in the south, which received substantially more support that Barnsley, the better. This had been the policy of successive governments and it was hoped that this would be recognised so that additional funding could be provided for the north so that Councils could invest and achieve what they wanted for their communities.