Plans to treble tax precept for buses 'fair'

Nik Johnson said the £11m raised through increasing council tax would go towards improving bus services

Plans to treble a council tax precept to pay for bus service improvements are "fair", according to the mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Nik Johnson proposes raising the mayoral precept from £12 to £36 for Band D households in the next financial year, to raise £11m.

Peterborough councillor Wayne Fitzgerald asked him to reconsider at a meeting of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, saying he should lobby the government for more money.

Dr Johnson, Labour, said he was "obviously disappointed" the authority did not receive Department for Transport funding when it was distributed in 2022, but said "the proposal that's on the table is one that's fair".

The £11m would go towards cutting some fares and bus network improvements, plus paying for struggling routes such as the 5 between Peterborough and Yaxley.

At the meeting on Monday, Mr Fitzgerald, former leader of Peterborough City Council, called on the opposition to ask central government for more funding before asking taxpayers.

"I know from the bus minister myself that the Combined Authority did not get bus service improvement funding because of a lack of ambition," he said.

However, Mr Johnson said the proposed tax was "fair".

"We could have asked for more but there is a responsibility to recognise that there is a cost of living crisis, so I think the proposal that's on the table is one that's fair, but also gives a good distribution for the whole of the area."

Mr Fitzgerald's proposal to reconsider the tax was defeated in a vote, with four people in favour and eight against.

The plans are due to be discussed again by the authority's board on 31 January.