Oxfordshire County Council has sent the following email to Chadlington Parish Council which wanted to publicise the contents:
Subsidised buses and Dial-a-Ride – publication of the consultation findings and accompanying cabinet paper
Please find a link to the subsidised buses and Dial-a-Ride public consultation findings, the accompanying cabinet paper and all relevant annexes relating to the consultation: http://mycouncil.oxfordshire.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=115&MId=4344 (the subsidised bus proposals are listed under item No 6).
These documents will be considered by the County Council’s decision making Cabinet on 10th November.
The decision made by Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet at this meeting is likely to have an impact on some bus and Dial-A-Ride services in Oxfordshire as it is at this meeting that choices will be made about how to best make the required savings from these services.
Supported transport savings
As part of the council’s budget setting process in February 2015, councillors reduced the overall supported transport budget by a fifth (£6.3 million). As far as possible, we are trying to make these savings in supported transport by running services more efficiently. We have identified that we can achieve nearly £3.7 million in savings by bringing together all the supported transport services we operate and fund. However, this is not enough. The council needs to find a minimum of £2.6 million in additional savings and this means looking at supported transport services which the council is not required to provide by law. This will inevitably impact some people in the county.
Why is the council making savings?
On-going cuts in central government funding mean Oxfordshire County Council has to make savings. The council is currently in the process of making approximately £290 million of savings. Those savings began in 2010 and run until 2018. On top of those savings, the council currently believes it may need to save a further £50 million.
The consultation
Between June 19th and September 15th we ran a public consultation on proposals to change subsidised buses and the Dial-a-Ride service in Oxfordshire. In total, 2656 responses to the consultation questionnaire were received, as well as numerous emails and letters, 13 detailed submissions and 7 petitions. 275 people attended public and specific stakeholder meetings about the proposals we put forward. The level of interest in the consultation demonstrates how highly the public values these supported transport services, with many regarding them as an important part of their local community infrastructure, and finding it difficult to prioritise between different types of services. While people were understandably concerned about reducing these services, there was also an appreciation of the exceptionally hard financial situation the Council finds itself in, and the difficult decisions this requires us to make.
Thank you for taking the time to read this message and please accept my apologises for sending this information three days after it was published.
We will contact those directly affected by any decision as soon as Cabinet have met on the 10th November, and please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions.
Yours sincerely,
Harry Hadaway
Communications
Corporate Services
Oxfordshire County Council
County Hall, New Road
Oxford OX1 1ND
M: 07554 103 319
E: harry.hadaway@oxfordshire.gov.uk