Wednesday 11 February 2015
Environment Department response to media enquiry from Guernsey Press.
Guernsey Press Enquiry:
Thank-you for the release yesterday about the bus contract.
I was hoping you could help with a few questions it raised.
The release talks about £300,000 for service improvements. Can you clarify what these will be and when they could be rolled out?
With that money coming from within the department - where will this money be taken from and how could this affect the department's work? If this isn't known yet, what areas are being looked at?
Also, what funding options are now being looked at for free buses and what sort of timescale is the department looking at to try and get free buses in place?
Can I also check where paid parking is at the moment, when that is coming back to the States, and whether that would be enough to cover free buses?
We are looking to run a story tomorrow, so can you please get back to me by 3.30pm.
Environment Department Response:
At this stage no further details are available. All areas of the Environment Department's income and expenditure will be subject to careful scrutiny. Historically the Department has returned unspent revenue balances at the end of each year and provided the Department can continue to manage its financial affairs as it has done for the last few years it expects to be able to cover this additional cost.
The details on Strategy funding options including funding a free bus service are equally unresolved and will be the subject of on-going deliberations over the coming weeks.
Paid Parking will be debated by the States this month.
Contact Information:
Steve Smith, Chief Officer
Environment Department
Tel: 717200
