Dear Durham County Council,

I hereby submit this Freedom of Information request for the following facts and figures regarding bus and public transport provision in Durham County Council as of 2011.

We are gathering this information as part of the Save Our Buses campaign. We know that the Government has made very deep cuts to local authority budgets and that local authorities have been struggling to keep their bus networks intact while finding savings. What we want to gather is a national picture of bus cuts, so that we can explain to central Government exactly how their decisions are likely to impact the country. Without this big picture the Government is able to dismiss bus cuts as local decisions. We hope to lobby the Government to give greater financial support for the bus network because we understand that the smooth operation of a whole range of national and local government provision and work is dependent on people being able to catch the bus.

We know that some authorities have already made decisions regarding cuts, some are still in the process of making decisions around how many services will lose funding and some have made some cuts and are considering further cuts. We are trying to get a picture of the risk posed to the bus network, so where you have proposals being considered but decisions have not been made final yet, please let us know.

I am aware of the general figures and information currently on your website, but would be grateful for clarification on the following points:

1) The number of bus services that received subsidies in your area in the last financial year (2010/11)
2) The percentage of bus services that received subsidies in the last financial year (2010/11)
3) The amount that you spent on bus subsidies in the last financial year (2010/11)
4) The amount of money that will be spent on bus subsidies this financial year (2011/12), in 2012/13 and in 2013/14
5) The percentage cut that was made to your formula grant from Government this year (2011/12)

This information above may include, but not be limited to:

Minutes of Council budget-setting meetings and meetings with operators.
E-Mail conversations, specifically relating to the requested subject.
Route timings, and drafts of these timings.
Reasons for change and withdrawal of services, where this may occur.

Please let me know upon acknowledgement, if there are any queries relating to this request.

Yours faithfully,

Jasmine Chahal
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Save Our Buses Campaign
Campaign for Better Transport
www.bettertransport.org.uk
020 7566 6489