Council tax precept set to treble to improve buses

The Mayor precept will see an increase from £12 to £36 for Band D households in Cambridgeshire

A council tax precept introduced last year is set to treble to help fund new bus services.

The contribution of council tax given over to the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority will rise from £12 to £36 for Band D householders.

The mayoral precept was only introduced to Cambridgeshire taxpayers in 2023.

However, Anna Bailey, Conservative leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council, said she would not support the increase and argued the authority should "live within its means".

Dr Nik Johnson, Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, said support showed a "desire for more and better services, getting people to and from where they want to go."

The mayoral precept was brought in after the combined authority took on the responsibility of funding a number of bus services that had been due to be cut the year before.

The authority is looking at cutting bus fares to £1 for a single journey for under-25s.

Dr Nik Johnson, mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, said he did not want anyone to be "left behind"

In a meeting at the combined authority's board on Wednesday, Dr Johnson said the tax would mean that more routes and more frequent services could be offered.

“I am not in any way indifferent to the long standing financial challenges which many of our residents find themselves wrestling with on a daily basis," he said.

“My argument is simply that the collective benefits of a better bus network vastly outweigh the costs to households, with less than 10p a day on average releasing £11m of public transport value .. massively increasing better access to the wealth of social and economic opportunities that our region presents.

“I think that is a price worth paying and I do not want to leave anyone behind.”

'Inequality drives poverty'

Liberal Democrat councillor Bridget Smith, leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council, said her council area had "a "really poor transport system".

"We know this drives inequality and inequality drives poverty," she added.

"In a time of the cost of living crisis, public transport is more important than ever."

Councillor Mohammed Farooq, of Peterborough First and leader of Peterborough City Council, said the cost of the increase for many people would be the equivalent of four to five cups of coffee a year.

He said he believed the “benefits outweigh the burden it brings to residents” and supported the increase.

But councillor Anna Bailey added: “I cannot support the vision of buses being the answer for future transport.

"We need something much more radical for our 21st century area, this is not the right answer and taxing people to deliver it is not the answer.”

The mayoral precept increase - and the combined authority budget - were both approved by a majority of the board members.