Success!

11.01.11am GMT Mon 22nd Feb 2010

On Tuesday 2nd March. a Parliamentary Committee is due to finally agree to the Government's recommendation to pay Chesterfield Borough Council the £1.84 million shortfall on the Government's Concessionary Bus Fares scheme for 2010-2011.

Paul Holmes, MP for Chesterfield, said "This will hopefully be the successful conclusion of our two year long campaign to stop the Government bankrupting Chesterfield. Over the last two years two separate Government Ministers have twice told me, point blank, that they had not made a mistake and that over 30 Councils like Chesterfield had been given all the money they needed to pay the bills for the Government's Concessionary Bus Fares Scheme. Suddenly, last autumn, a new Minister told me that I was right and that the Government had indeed got it wrong.

"As long as the Committee next week does pass the Government proposal, then CBC will get the extra £1.84 million needed to pay for the Government's scheme for 1st April 2010 - March 2011. The decision however will come AFTER the Council has to set its legal budget for the next financial year and so the affected Councils will have to 'guess' that the Government will keep its promise on 2nd March.

"Neither is there any suggestion that the Government will pay back the £3.4Million that they short-changed Chesterfield by from 2008-2010. That money had to be taken from Council reserves, from budget cuts and from 35 job losses. I will continue to fight alongside CBC to get that money back. The Government now accept that they got their figures wrong and so they should pay back the huge sum they owe from the last two years."