§ Mr. George Gardinerasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will announce the allocations of transport supplementary grant for 1983–84 for county councils in England and for the Greater London council; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. David HowellCounty councils have today been informed to their allocations of transport supplementary grant for 1983–84, which I intend to prescribe in the rate support grant report which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment and I have laid before Parliament. I am announcing full details of the settlement now so that counties can take my decisions into account in planning their transport budgets for the year starting 1 April next. The figures are set out in table 1.
For the 1983–84 settlement I have decided to accept a total of £1,836.193 million, which represents an increase of 12½ per cent. on the equivalent figure for 1982–83. As in previous years, grant will be paid at a rate of approximately 70 per cent. on that part of each county council's accepted expenditure which lies above a threshold, which is determined on a per capita basis. For 1983–84, the threshold will be £25.59 per head. The total of grant payable will be £450.0 million, slightly less than in 1982–83. This reflects the cut in national insurance surcharge, and also the overall Government view that the proportion of local authority expenditure contributed by the taxpayer should be reduced.
As in previous years, there will be a second "safety net" threshold, so that all counties will get grant on at least 3 per cent. of their accepted expenditure.
236WThe size of the transport expenditure programmes which I am accepting for 1983–84 indicates the importance which the Government attach to transport. I particularly want to encourage capital investment, the provision for which is raised by over £100 million compared with 1982–83. This will enable county councils to start some 50 new capital projects, including 35 bypasses and urban relief roads designed to take heavy lorry traffic away from residential areas. Investment of this kind by county councils on their own roads valuably complements the Government's own programme of bypasses on trunk roads. Further investment will also be made in public passenger transport schemes—we are continuing to support the programme of replacements and renewals on London Transport, and it is expected that the Tyne and Wear metro system will be completed in 1983–84 with the resources now being provided.
The largest single element within the settlement is again expenditure on road maintenance. The total accepted for this exceeds £830 million, an increase of some 5 per cent. on the current year, and more than 20 per cent. over the past two years. As the first stage in the implementation of lorry action areas, as recommended by the Armitage report, I invited county councils to put forward special schemes of road maintenance designated to mitigate the effects of heavy lorry traffic, in places where bypasses cannot be constructed. Allocations for 58 such schemes are included in the settlement.
The third major element in the settlement, public passenger transport subsidies, has become controversial in recent years because of the excessively high spending proposed by the GLC and some of the metropolitan counties. The Government have always made it clear that they are not prepared to support unrealistically low fares policies which impose a severe burden upon ratepayers. Those paying subsidy for public transport are entitled to know how their money is being spent and that they are getting good value for it. The special legislation that is being introduced to clarify the powers of the GLC and metropolitan counties to pay subsidy aims to put the whole system on a more stable basis. But the Government support reasonable levels of public transport subsidy, and over £370 million of expenditure has been accepted for grant in the 1983–84 settlement.
The overall effect of these decisions will be to keep up the momentum of capital investment in new roads, especially bypasses, and in public transport projects; to enable county councils to maintain their road networks; and to provide substantial levels of subsidy to public passenger transport in all areas. The grant distributed through this settlement, together with the further support for transport spending provided by the Government through RSG, will help county councils to carry out balanced programmes of transport expenditure in 1983–84 without making heavy calls on local ratepayers.
I am also announcing today the capital control allocations for transport, in accordance with section 72 of the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980. These cover all capital expenditure accepted for TSG, together with expenditure on certain other items not eligible for this form of grant. Details of these allocations are set out in table 2.
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Distribution of Transport Supplementary Grant for 1983–84 £ million Expenditure Accepted for TSG County Revenue Bus etc. Support Rail Maintenance Other Current Capital Total 1983–84 Cash Grant GLC 113.750 0.000 114.409 6.159 227.500 461.818 200.722 GMC 24.000 18.500 38.887 .414 18.675 100.476 23.426 Merseyside 22.050 14.500 26.600 .505 19.111 82.766 30.688 South Yorkshire 12.575 3.500 23.070 .171 8.571 47.887 9.993 Tyne/Wear 13.000 1.500 19.800 .060 13.600 47.960 12.825 West Midlands 19.425 6.000 42.818 .326 26.322 94.891 18.585 West Yorkshire 25.063 9.000 35.916 .907 17.016 87.902 24.611 Total Mets 116.113 53.000 187.091 2.383 103.295 461.882 120.128 Avon 3.564 0.000 15.513 .220 3.736 23.033 .484 Bedford 1.000 0.000 8.020 .080 5.805 14.905 1.300 Berkshire 1.572 0.000 10.400 0.000 9.494 21.466 2.635 Buckingham 1.611 0.000 9.730 .061 6.978 18.380 2.626 Cambridge .834 0.000 9.822 .024 5.910 16.590 1.039 Cheshire 5.250 0.000 17.884 .202 4.935 28.271 3.140 Cleveland 3.410 0.000 10.150 .075 8.500 22.135 5.302 Cornwall 1.427 .023 11.805 .024 5.806 19.085 5.750 Cumbria 2.483 .012 13.700 .013 3.760 19.968 5.402 Derbyshire 5.461 .051 17.484 .066 5.114 28.176 3.404 Devon 1.677 0.000 21.670 .183 9.356 32.886 5.777 Dorset 1.300 0.000 11.532 .128 10.900 23.860 6.003 Durham 2.047 .003 12.400 .085 6.326 20.861 3.772 East Sussex 3.097 0.000 10.122 .036 4.810 18.065 .678 Essex 3.423 .003 24.238 .100 13.003 40.767 2.003 Gloucester .567 0.000 8.960 .100 5.512 15.139 1.561 Hampshire 3.616 0.000 20.900 .112 13.804 38.432 .807 Hereford/Worcester 1.213 .216 11.168 .083 7.492 20.172 2.755 Hertford 6.694 .006 14.406 .814 9.430 31.350 4.678 Humberside 2.794 .021 17.153 .060 11.234 31.262 6.573 Isle of Wight .412 0.000 3.050 .054 2.337 5.853 1.973 Kent 3.041 0.000 24.622 .294 13.884 41.841 2.728 Lancashire 8.293 0.000 28.780 .060 12.267 49.400 9.816 Leicester 2.040 0.000 14.645 .455 11.846 28.986 4.940 Lincoln .867 .016 15.440 .044 4.997 21.364 5.115 Norfolk 1.009 0.000 12.550 .019 6.363 19.941 1.425 Northampton 1.370 0.000 9.330 .032 6.499 17.231 2.542 Northumberland .689 0.000 8.748 .121 3.704 13.262 3.903 North Yorks. 1.600 0.000 19.500 .083 7.537 28.720 8.062 Nottingham 2.484 0.000 15.800 .053 10.822 29.159 2.641 Oxford .275 0.000 8.366 .043 3.736 12.420 .261 Shropshire .948 0.000 8.065 .087 3 .m 844 12.944 2.233 Somerset .497 0.000 10.141 .024 5.974 16.636 3.949 Stafford 4.191 0.000 15.273 .040 8.701 28.205 1.535 Suffolk .300 .011 10.200 .025 7.068 17.604 1.482 Surrey 5.149 0.000 17.425 .212 8.995 31.781 4.052 Warwick .615 0.000 9.200 .101 5.088 15.004 1.980 West Sussex 1.988 0.000 12.716 .028 7.292 22.024 3.475 Wiltshire .882 0.000 8.825 .262 5.346 15.315 1.399 Total Shires 89.690 .362 529.733 4.503 288.205 912.493 129.150 England 319.553 53.362 831.233 13.045 619.000 1,836.193 450.000 238W
Capital Allocations: Transport 1983–84 County Council Total (£ million cash) GLC 213.290 GMC 27.856 Merseyside 22.919 Tyne and Wear 26.989 South Yorkshire 21.970 West Midlands 39.382 West Yorkshire 24.685 Total Mets (Exc GLC) 163.801 239W
County Council Total (£ million cash) Avon 3.736 Bedfordshire 5.805 Berkshire 9.494 Buckinghamshire 6.978 Cambridgeshire 5.910 Cheshire 4.975 Cleveland 8.525 Cornwall 5.806 Cumbria 5.220 Derbyshire 5.414 Devonshire 9.441 Dorset 10.900
County Council Total (£ million cash) Durham 6.326 East Sussex 4.810 Essex 13.253 Gloucestershire 5.512 Hampshire 13.804 H. Worcester 7.492 Hertfordshire 9.430 Humberside 11.234 Isle of Wight 2.337 Kent 14.134 Lancashire 12.267 Leicestershire 11.846 Lincoln 4.997 Norfolk 6.363 Northamptonshire 6.549 Northumberland 3.704 North Yorkshire 7.537 Nottinghamshire 10.867 Oxfordshire 3.736 Shropshire 3.844 Somerset 5.974 Staffordshire 8.701 Suffolk 7.068 Surrey 8.995 Warwickshire 5.088 West Sussex 7.292 Wiltshire 5.346 Total Shires 290.710 240W
District Council Total (£ million cash) Allerdale 0.006 Ashfield 0.100 Barnsley 0.374 Barrow in Furness 0.318 Blackburn 0.453 Blackpool 0.489 Blyth Valley 0.044 Bolton 0.016 Boston 0.736 Bournemouth 0.065 Bradford 0.030 Brighton 0.201 Bristol 3.444 Burnley and Pendle 0.148 Bury 0.486 Canterbury 0.080 Carrick 0.061 Chester 0.216 Chesterfield 0.563 Copeland 0.020 Colchester 0.087 Crewe and Nantwich 0.050 Darlington 0.318 Derby 0.910 Derwentside 0.080 Doncaster 0.224 Durham 0.050 East Staffordshire 0.027 Ellesmere Port and Nelson 0.080 Exeter 0.098 Fenland 0.109 Gateshead 0.040 Gillingham 0.028 Glanford 0.300 Great Grimsby 0.371 Halton 0.040 Hartlepool 0.571 Hull 0.510 Hyndburn 0.239 Kirklees 0.361 Lancaster 0.138 Leeds 0.403 Leicester 1.118
County Council Total (£ million cash) Maidstone 0.254 Manchester 0.112 Medina 0.024 Middlesbrough 0.806 Northampton 0.509 Nottingham 0.756 Penwith 0.252 Plymouth 0.395 Portsmouth 4.061 Preston 0.424 Reading 0.816 Richmond 0.142 Rochdale 0.116 Rotherham 0.812 Rossendale 0.265 Scunthorpe 1.040 Sefton 0.010 Southampton 0.318 South Hams 0.175 Southend-on-Sea 0.366 South Lakeland 0.143 South Tyneside 0.018 Stockport 0.046 Stockton 0.025 Sunderland 3.299 Tameside 0.005 Teignbridge 0.110 Thamesdown 0.321 Thanet 0.340 Trafford 0.409 Torbay 0.016 Torridge 0.016 Tynedale 0.050 Vale Royal 0.190 Wansbeck 0.020 Warrington 0.417 West Somerset 0.030 Weymouth and Portland 0.152 Wigan 0.069 Total Districts 31.331 241W
£ million cash London boroughs Total Barking 0.221 Barnet 0.392 Bexley 2.307 Brent 0.542 Bromley 1.499 Camden 0.318 City of London 2.789 Croydon 0.597 Ealing 2.078 Enfield 0.243 Greenwich 0.000 Hackney 0.472 Hammersmith 3.073 Haringey 0.351 Harrow 2.779 Havering 0.500 Hillingdon 4.870 Hounslow 0.412 Islington 0.404 Kensington and Chelsea 0.651 Kingston 1.933 Lambeth 0.739 Lewisham 0.341 Merton 2.329 Newham 1.580 Redbridge 1.241 Richmond 0.912 Southwark 3.114 Sutton 0.864 Tower Hamlets 1.105 Waltham Forest 0.837
London boroughs Total Wandsworth 0.427 Westminster 2.800 Total London Boroughs 42.000 Total Counties (inc. GLC) 667.801 Total Districts 31.331 Total London Boroughs 42.000 TOTAL ENGLAND 741.132