The 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review delivered a 14.3% cut in the Council’s Government funding – about £11.1m for 2011/12. In 2012/13, the Council will lose a further 10.4% - about £8m and further savings will be required for the following two years. This has meant that the Council’s Gross Expenditure on subsidised bus services has reduced from £5.4m in 2009-10 to £4.3m in 2011-12 and there are real financial pressures for this to be reduced even further.
The elderly, children, young people and disabled people all require access to essential services, key facilities and destinations which are fundamental to individual quality of life and community well-being.
Through the Travel Bucks Strategy the aim is to develop a sustainable model for public transport provision which offers value for money, choice and opportunities for local communities to deliver their own demand responsive community transport to help solve local accessibility issues.
Transport and accessibility are key enablers to achieving stronger local economies, better public health and the wider strategic objectives such as those in the Corporate Plan, the Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) and Local Transport Plan 3 (LTP3). Therefore the Travel Bucks Strategy will feed in to and will be influenced by these long-term strategic documents.
It is critical to promote the Public Consultation phase of the Travel Bucks Strategy so that we can engage with as many stakeholders, public transport users, community groups and local residents of Buckinghamshire as possible in the preparation stage of the document to ensure the strategy fits the priorities of the council, national transport policy and the needs of local people.
We would be grateful for your views and response on the Travel Bucks consultation below. Please take a few moments to read the draft strategy below and respond to the consultation. You may find it useful to have the strategy document to hand as you complete the consultation.