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Yate residents willing to pay more tax to save buses

WECA West of England metro mayor Dan Norris and First West of England managing director Doug ClaringboldWECA
A majority of 70 residents at a meeting in Yate wanted the West of England metro mayor to charge households more to save their local bus services

Residents would willingly pay more council tax to save bus services in their area, a public meeting in Yate has heard.

Calls are growing to give Dan Norris, the West of England mayor the power to charge households an extra fee.

The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) currently provides money to keep subsidised bus services running.

Mr Norris said the change would be "a more transparent way" of funding parts of the transport system.

The other eight directly elected heads of combined authorities have the power to set precepts, which result in a small amount of money being paid by households on top of council tax.

First Bus recently warned some routes could be axed when the government's Covid funding ends in October, leaving some communities across North Somerset without a service.

Adam Postans/LDRS Dan Norris addressing people at a Big Choices On Buses meetingAdam Postans/LDRS
A series of meetings have been held titled Big Choices On Buses

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, a series of public meetings have been held by the metro mayor to figure out ways to protect bus services in the region.

The vast majority of the 70 attendees at one meeting in Yate Parish Hall indicated they would prefer to pay higher council tax bills compared to higher ticket fares.

Transport campaigner David Redgewell told the meeting: "That's a better way to go with WECA than the transport levy."

Mr Norris said: "At the moment there is a complicated system of 'transport levies' which the unitary authorities provide to the West of England Authority which is then spent on helping fund the 60 or so buses that are taxpayer subsidised.

"But we are currently stymied by the fact that the unitary councils provide a much lower amount of money than elsewhere in the country - almost three times less than places like Manchester."

The South Gloucestershire Council leader, councillor Toby Savage, has previously argued against the system, stating it is not a like-for-like comparison due to the differences in the combined authorities' responsibilities and funding methods.

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