TORBAY COUNCIL FUNDING
Councillor Derek Mills, seeks to correct me by saying that of the extra £21.7 million from the government this year, £20 million of it was the wrong sort of money because it is ring fenced for capital expenditure. That may be true, but hardly a bad thing.
He then complains that the other £1.7 million is equal to the cost of free bus travel for pensioners. Also true, but he should remember that many Councils throughout this land have provided free travel for pensioners for years, without the aid of a special government subsidy.
And remember the years of actual cuts in the government grants under the Conservatives. The 'damping scheme' he refers to is for the benefit of places poorer and more deprived than Torbay. Any government that may in the future be elected on the promise of lowering taxes is sure to lower the grants for local authorities.
