Dear Editor,
At the Environment and Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny meeting on Monday 18th January 2021, I raised the point that Cllr Craig Browne (pictured) mentioned at Cabinet last week that “The Transport Ministry has confirmed that CEC’s expression of interest to the (government) rural mobility fund has been successful”.
This means the south of the borough will potentially benefit to the tune of a £1.26 million investment in a demand led bus service.
However, what Cllr Browne failed to mention was that this is dependent on a successful business case being submitted, and that this is one of 17 applications which have been selected to progress to the next phase.
I understand that if all schemes meet the necessary criteria, almost £20 million of this government funding will be released in the 2021/22 financial year.
In the spirit of the council’s approach then, ensuring that transparency is adhered to in all aspects of council decision making, perhaps it would have been better for Cllr Browne to let all Ward members know about the decision to apply for rural mobility funding, and give members the opportunity to give input, especially rural Ward members who are lacking much needed cross border services.
I have spoken to Cllr Browne previously about issues in my Ward which is starved of much needed funding for a bus service, and rural mobility funding was mentioned.
But I am disheartened to see that this will be allocated (depending if the bid is successful) to the south of the borough, and completely ignoring the needs to the north.
Yours,
Cllr Kate Parkinson
High Legh Ward
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