Council provides extra cash to keep park and rides going

TAUNTON’S park and ride services have been given a six-month shot in the arm – and new sites could be opened in the future.

The Gateway and Silk Mills sites were threatened with closure last September when Somerset County Council said it could no longer afford to maintain the service.

The former Taunton Deane Borough Council stepped in at the time with £170,000 to ensure the two sites could remain operational for a further 12 months.

Now its successor, Somerset West and Taunton Council, has agreed funding for a further six months, with a view to making both sites commercially viable and opening further park and ride sites as part of its garden town masterplan.

The council’s executive agreed the additional funding at a meeting in Taunton this week. A total of £135,000 will be allocated to the service for the next six months, to be sourced from funding for garden town projects and the new homes bonus, received from the Government for completing new properties.

Of this, £115,000 will be used to keep the existing services running at current levels and £20,000 will go towards work to make the park and ride operation more commercially viable.

While the funding will be coming from the district council, the county council and its operator First Bus will remain responsible for the day-to-day running of both sites.

Councillor Mike Rigby, portfolio holder for transport, said neither site “operated at a surplus” on current passenger numbers, even though usage had risen by two per cent in the last 12 months.

He said: “We want to look at finding a sustainable business model, and that may mean this council takes a much more hands-on approach to things.”

While the council aims to run the service “without subsidy”, Mr Rigby said he was not averse to including some form of subsidy if it was necessary to be able to keep the service.

He also said plans for “at least one or two more” park and ride sites would be included in the council’s new transport strategy, which will take account of proposed development over the coming years.

Grant Thornton, the county council’s external auditor, said there was “limited resilience should significant overspends emerge in the future”.

In reports issued before an audit committee meeting on July 30, it refused to issue a final judgement until it “gains more confidence” about how the authority will stop demand rising in children’s and adults’ services.

Councillor Ross Henley was critical of the county council for not making more effort to secure the park and ride service’s future.

He said: “For Taunton not to have its park and rides would be an absolute disaster – what kind of message would that send out for a town wanting to move forward? The role of the county council has been absolutely lamentable. I think we can do a much better job of running the park and ride than them, and I commend the work Mike and his team are doing to increase usage.”