Bristol City Council wants £50m loan to fund 'major infrastructure improvements'
BRISTOL'S Liberal Democrats want to put the city £50 million further into debt to fund a raft of major infrastructure improvements.
There would be more money to alleviate the primary school crisis, help fund the Bus Rapid Transit schemes, build a new recycling centre for south Bristol and build a new swimming pool in east Bristol.
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The city's rail service would also see a boost, and more cash would be spent on allowing elderly people to live independently.
But it would mean the authority's debt would grow significantly, at a time when the coalition government is trying to reduce the amount the country owes.
If approved by the full council next month, the £50 million would be borrowed from the government's public loans board.
With a fixed interest rate of four per cent, the council would actually have to pay back £80 million over 25 years.
The ruling Lib Dems have denied they are being irresponsible, and say "now is the right time to borrow" to promote investment and create jobs.
The last reported figure for city council borrowing was a £454 million net debt for the year 2010/11.
On top of this the council may also borrow £27 million to fund the three BRT schemes after they were approved by the government last month.
The council spends roughly £1 billion every year.
The Lib Dems say they will pay back the new loan with savings they have found by making the council run more efficiently, the equivalent of £3 million every year for the 25-year repayment period.
That is on top of the £70 million of savings the authority is having to make between now and 2015 as part of the government's austerity measures. But that money could have been used to avoid some of the approximately 700 council job losses or service cuts announced to date.
Instead, major investment in five main areas was confirmed by the council cabinet yesterday.
Education will see the biggest chunk of the money, with £20 million going towards the £150 million the city needs to solve the shortage of school places.
Transport will see £16 million spent, with £10 million going towards funding the bus rapid transit routes; Ashton Vale to Temple Meads; Hengrove to North Fringe, and the South Bristol Link.
That reduces the amount businesses may have to pay towards the schemes, either from a workplace parking tax or rates increase.
The remaining £6 million will be divided between investment in local rail, road repair, bus route improvements and a new rail-based park and ride for Bristol Parkway station.
Another £6 million will be used to build a Bristol East swimming pool at Bristol Brunel Academy in Speedwell.
A further £5.5 million will be used to create more sheltered housing schemes for elderly people. This is to offset potential care home closures that are still being threatened by the authority, years after they were first proposed. And £2 million will be used to create a third recycling centre for the city covering south Bristol.
Council leader Barbara Janke described the money as a mortgage, and stressed the authority would not borrow more than it could afford to pay back.
She said: "It is responsible. These are one-off projects over a given period of time. The income has been identified. If we were borrowing to keep up our services and the day-to-day that would not be acceptable.
"This is investment in things that are desperately needed. If you think that the council revenue budget is £400 million, it's a very small part of that. If you can't find the savings, you can't borrow."
Cabinet members argued Bristol had the second lowest average debt per person for any major city in the country.
By comparison, Birmingham has a debt of £2.3 billion, although its population is more than double Bristol's.
Deputy leader Simon Cook said: "Borrowing at the moment is extremely cheap.
"Now is the time to borrow money prudentially, at a fixed rate. It's a responsible thing to do to give a stimulus to our economy."
But the Conservatives disagreed.
Tory group leader Peter Abraham said: "I'm very concerned. Worthy as some of it may be, to enter into serious borrowing schemes at this time is not sensible or proper. Some of them are nice to have but not essential.
"I'm very surprised about the money for rapid transit; we will now have to pay for it from local tax payers' money.
"£50 million is a lot of money and will up our debt quite considerably at a time when borrowing should be seriously restricted. It's almost irresponsible."
Bristol's Labour group has given a "guarded welcome" to the proposals, which will have to be approved at the budget setting meeting next month.
Councillor Peter Hammond said: "Whilst any investment contributing to solving Bristol's continuing shortfall in primary school places is welcome, an additional £20 million will only go a small part of the way in resolving this problem.
"Bristol's transport infrastructure needs investment and the contribution to the 'affordability gap' in the recently-approved Bus Rapid Transit schemes is welcomed.
"But the council needs to announce what mechanism will be put in place to meet the business contribution to the remaining shortfall."
Mr Hammond also said the Lib Dems had shown a "lack of imagination" in not finding other ways to pay for the investment.
94 Comments
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by DM_Fishponds
Thursday, January 12 2012, 6:31PM
“Oh dear, @CllrJonRogers has chosen not to reply to my comments which included this:
http://tinyurl.com/2xnmra
I wonder why?”
by airhellair
Thursday, January 12 2012, 3:59PM
“@Frank1958
My feeling is that Richard34 is referring to Bristol in Connecticut, USA - http://tinyurl.com/3h9lbdf
It's a nice place with efficient public transport, run by Connecticut's CT Transit - http://tinyurl.com/7b4k9op
As standard in many US cities, buses have bike racks, usually fitted in the front. CT Transit fares are definitely cheaper that UK's Bristol at $1.35 - http://tinyurl.com/6m93tuy
They are even cheaper than London.
Maybe he's referring to Bristol in Virginia, USA - http://tinyurl.com/73s3rfh Also seems a nice place.”
by smoosername
Thursday, January 12 2012, 2:23PM
“@CllrJonRogers - "Journey times in Bristol are reducing for all forms of transport, not just buses."
That really should be "Journey times in Bristol DID reduce".
http://tinyurl.com/7mxsmun
Then unfortunately came along the LibDem trio of Rogers/Hopkins/Kent. They decided rather than try to improve public transport and make it a viable alternative to the car, they would force people onto an outdated, unreliable, more expensive, inconvenient and disintegrated bus system provided by their masters, First Bus. Roads were closed, banned from turning left/right, 24 Bus Lanes were introduced (when was the last time you saw a Bus running past 8pm!!) and still they continued with their anti-car policies.
Since then, things have gone downhill quickly. You only have to look at the madness going on round Bristol to see why.”
by CllrJonRogers
Thursday, January 12 2012, 1:15PM
“KNIGEL hopes that ".. Cllr Rogers has now gone away?..."
Er no.
There are only so many hours in the day, so I tend to browse the media sites in my breaks.”
by CllrJonRogers
Thursday, January 12 2012, 1:13PM
“MarkBS9 thinks that "Every alteration to the road network carried out by Bristol City Council for as long as I can remember has resulted in a worsening of the traffic situation around the site"
I think he is wrong!
Journey times in Bristol are reducing for all forms of transport, not just buses.
Bristol has seen the opening of Cabot Circus at the bottom of M32 amid predictions that it would snarl up the city, but thanks to the excellent work of traffic engineers the traffic flows pretty well.
There is still an issue with pedestrian and bicycle crossings around that bit of the network, but the scheme is a significant improvment.
In my own patch, junction 3 of the M32 and the link with St Pauls and Easton Way is much improved and indeed much safer.”
by CllrJonRogers
Thursday, January 12 2012, 1:07PM
“J12345678 says that, "From memory there are 10 GBBN routes and after the shambles of the first two (Fishponds and Whiteladies) I strongly suggest the remaining eight are cancelled and the flowerbeds removed to reinstate the first two."
Your memory is flawed :-(
As far as I am aware the final four GBBN schemes are Bath Road A4, Fishponds Road, Whiteladies Road and A37 Wells Road. The first six are all complete.
The Wells Road scheme is the final GBBN scheme to start and needs to be finished by April 2012.
The Bath Road scheme is mostly complete now, although there is some optimisation still needed with traffic lights.”
by frank1958
Thursday, January 12 2012, 12:22PM
“'@Richard34, In Bristol we can breath far cleaner air and be in the countryside in less that 10 minutes and we can cycle thanks to our cycling city and walk in wonderful settings.
What Bristol are you talking about , not uk surely.”
by stockwoodpete
Thursday, January 12 2012, 11:51AM
“I can see why they need to borrow to pay for the final link in the South Bristol Ring Road (and the ridiculous uneconomic 'rapid' round-the-houses bendy-bus route that's only there to tick the 'green' box on the Link Road application form). They're scared the business lobby and those influential BEP journalists who still have parking spaces won't let them raise much from a workplace parking charge, so it's being passed on to the rest of us instead.
But when money to provide essential core services like education and social care can't be found in the annual budget, and has to be borrowed, there's something very seriously wrong. We can't go on like this.”
by katachua
Wednesday, January 11 2012, 8:34PM
“@Charlespk
Obviously you haven't katachua. .
The commuters in and out of London have to travel 'cattle class'."
Worked there for five years; lived there for three. Lots of things wrong with London, but not the public transport. For a start, it's still there on evenings and weekends...”
by Richard34
Wednesday, January 11 2012, 5:54PM
“@airhellair says: "His head might explode at the possibilities (when seeing London).
I have a choice of bus, rail, tram, tube, overground, DLR and clipper boats for my journeys. Most of these modes work long hours. Two bus routes near where I live run 24 hours".
Good for you Airhellair, clearly you either live in a very nice part of London or a complete run down hole i.e. Victoria & Chealsea or Woolwich further out.
In Bristol we can breath far cleaner air and be in the countryside in less that 10 minutes and we can cycle thanks to our cycling city and walk in wonderful settings. The last time London was this good it was called Londinium and even then it was flat and boring!
You then say: "Unlike Bristol, not all buses come to the central area. In fact, most services I use don't. All for 1.35 per journey with an oyster card. For rapid journeys, I can use trams at the same cost. This summer, a cable car system will provide an additional river crossing".
That could be because London is a far bigger place, more comparable to Greater Bristol where buses don't all run in to the central area and prices here vary depending on the bus company that you use. Catch the UWE buses and travel all day for £3. far better than London!
London is a wash with people, there's 7.5m living there with 20m in home counties and millions more working there. You can't compare the two cities but you should also add that 3 out of the worst 5 places to live in the UK are areas in London. None in Bristol.
London would love to freedom that Bristol offers.”