Local Transport Bill [HL]

I did not take the legislation through the House. Although I was tangentially aware of some of those debates, like the noble Lord, I think that it is much better in general terms for these issues to be resolved locally. I am sad that conflicts are arising in the way that he describes. I am sure that if people are wise and sensible, they will seek a reasonable resolution to those issues. I certainly appreciate the noble Lord’s point about county councils having the size and capacity to manage such budget issues. I have heard the complaints in my county as well, where it is said that councils such as Wealden are making ““a bit of a profit”” out of this, whereas the more heavily populated urban areas such as Brighton and Hove, and perhaps Eastbourne and Worthing, have similar difficulties to those that the noble Lord describes. I accept that the formula is not absolutely perfect, but it is the mechanism for distribution and it has a long history to it. When the noble Lord’s party was in government, their Government obliged authorities to operate within its rigours, and I guess that that is what we are going to have to do here. We continue to listen to what our friends in local government have to say on the matter and, as I outlined in my response, we seek to perfect the operation of the scheme as it kicks in from April next year. I am not going to be drawn into making comments about the desirability or otherwise of using a national mechanism. I am sure that powerful arguments were made that it could work locally, for the simple reason that local people are closer to where the service is being used and they probably have a better understanding of how it will operate. For those reasons, I will not be drawn any further into that debate, but I give the assurance that we in government continue to listen to understandable concerns and that we have the opportunity to see how it works out as it is implemented from April next year.