Clause 4 - Arrangements for discharge of transport functions
Transport (Wales) Bill
12:00 pm
Bill Wiggin ((Also Shadow Secretary of State for Wales), Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Leominster, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 4, in Clause 4, page 2, line 36, at end add—
‘(7) The National Assembly for Wales shall provide for the costs of the arrangements for the discharge of joint functions.’.
Under the amendment, the Assembly would pay for the arrangements when it issued a direction on local transport functions. Under the Bill, the cost of new transport arrangements looks set to fall heavily on local authorities and consequently on the Welsh council tax payer. The Welsh Local Government Association has expressed a genuine concern that the Bill will result in costly administrative reform, with no benefit to the travelling public. Its regional director also expressed concern that
“Reorganisation with no substantial additional investment is not a recipe for service delivery success.”
The people of Wales have suffered enough as a result of their authorities having extra responsibilities thrust on them without being given extra money. The Bill must not be a way of allowing that to continue, especially when the costs are likely to be great—approximately £1 million per annum, in addition to the £100,000 to £200,000 in set-up costs. A large part of the £1 million running costs for the joint transport authority will be spent on its senior management and on accommodation. We need to be able to monitor that tier of administration so that the Assembly and the Minister can retain accountability for the delivery of Welsh transport. If the Assembly is to direct authorities in the joint discharge of transport functions, it should provide them with the extra money they need to discharge those functions. In that way, we can guard against local authorities having to bear unnecessary burdens when running the new JTAs.