Funding cuts to hit transport

Spending review threatens grants

Oldham Council looks set to be hit by a double whammy of transport funding cuts — while other areas will benefit.

All councils across the country are expecting to see a reduction in allocations after the spending review in the autumn with government departments having to make savings of up to 40 per cent to deal with the country’s debt.

Two transport grants are now being reviewed by the Government because the criteria, based on population, road use, accidents and other statistics, has not been looked at for five years. It would leave Oldham with less cash than if the current maintenance formula was kept. Overall, Oldham will come out worse under the review according to Department for Transport (DfT) analysis.

It predicts the borough will receive 9 per cent less than it would under the current formula — the equivalent of £234,000 based on 2010/11 allocations.

It’s not possible to say how much Oldham will suffer as it isn’t known how much the sum being allocated to councils will be.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “It could be argued that allocating more money to local authorities whose roads are in a poor condition rewards those authorities that spend funding inefficiently or on other priorities.”

The Government is also consulting on changing the funding of capital projects costing under £5m, such as road safety and bus priority schemes and cycling projects. Greater Manchester would see funding reduced by 2 per cent, according to the DfT.

A consultation has been launched on the proposals to allow councils to make objections.