THERE is just under a month to go to comment on Devon County Council’s proposals to cut £1.7 million from its annual public transport budget over the next two financial years.

More than 1,800 people have taken part in the consultation so far, but there is still time for people to have their say before it closes on Monday 20 April.

The County Council is proposing to withdraw its support for a number of leisure and tourism services, some town services, and some fare car services, as well as making changes to travel using the National Bus Pass.

It is the first time in four years that the authority has proposed cutting bus services to meet a reduced budget, but the reductions are needed as part of the County's efforts to save £110 million by 2017 - £50 million in the coming financial year - due to its reduced settlement from central Government. That is despite the local authority having already saved £100 million over the past four years.

The County Council has set up a three year fund of £100,000 per year, to help Community Transport providers broaden their services to include more general access for local communities. It is hoped this will mitigate some of the impact of proposed cuts to around 100 public transport services across the county.

Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Highway Management, said: "We’ve had a good response to the consultation so far, and with the tough choices we’re going to be making we need as many people as possible to take part. We're facing a 14% reduction in spending in the next financial year, despite the Secretary of State claiming we're receiving a 0.5% increase. Unfortunately that means service reductions are unavoidable, even though we’ve managed to avoid these sorts of cuts over the past four years.

“A large number of responses have suggested that Devon should request payment for the first issue of a National Bus Pass or to request that passengers pay a contribution to the bus fare. However, the County Council can only administer the National Bus Pass according to statutory legislation contained in the Concessionary Travel Act 2007, and it would require an act of Parliament to alter the legislation governing the scheme.

“Our proposals are for thinning services, which will reduce choice in terms of travel time and destination, but it minimises the potential overall impact. The starting point for the proposals has been those services with low usage or a high cost of subsidy, some costing more than £20 per passenger trip. Clearly we can’t afford to continue providing that level of funding.

“Even when these savings are introduced, we will still be spending over £4 million on public transport, on top of that, we’ll be paying the bus companies in Devon a further £2.5 million over and above what the Government gives us to fund pensioners’ free bus passes, which costs us more than £9 million a year to run in the county. We have pledged that no communities which are currently served by a bus will be entirely cut off, and our proposals intend to protect weekly links.”

The consultation closes on Monday 20 April. Full details of all of the proposals are available online at: www.toughchoices.co.uk