THE Holsworthy Area Advisory Group welcomed the leader of Devon County Council to its meeting on Monday, December 2, to receive an update on the current financial outlook for the county.

Cllr John Hart said he was pleased to see so many local representatives in attendance at the advisory meeting. He explained this was one of many visits he was making to local advisory groups to give an update on the current financial state of the council.

He said: “We are in a better position this year. Circumstances meant it was hard to pin point how much we are going to get next year — it is a bit like looking into a crystal ball.

“The county council in this current year is over spending on special education needs and disabilities. This is not unique though, other councils are in the same boat.”

He said the upcoming budget would provide more detail but he ran through some estimated figures: “Next week we set the target budget. Indications were that we should be getting an increase for schools and care.

“There will be a block of money for special education needs and disabilities. We were expecting to get between seven and eight million but I’ve been informed we might only get an additional £5.5-million, but that is still five and a half more than we would have.”

He said transport was prevalent for the area, with more than £5-million going to subsidising rural buses.

He said: “It costs over £9-million for over 60s bus passes to which we have to pay a contribution. There are 174,000 people in Devon with a bus pass and yet we still have places with no buses. The county council is having bus service routes given up by bus services, but we are still keeping buses running where we can generally speaking.”

Continuing on the theme of highways, Cllr Hart said potholes were still a problem in the area but that the council were better than before at tackling the issue: “I will say we are better than we were about potholes. I won’t say we have fixed the pothole problem but we are well on our way to getting on top of it.”

He concluded by saying there would be more focus in the new budget on children’s services and highways, specifically looking at drainage and that there was a likely possibility tax could be increased.

“The target budget will show we are looking to spend more money on children’s services and highways, targeted on drainage.

“One other thing I will add, it is a possibility we will put tax up by 2% for adult care. That’s a 1.99% raise on general rates.”

Cllr Hart then welcomed questions from members of the advisory group.

Cllr Philip Hackett, Broadheath ward member, said a solution to the bus issues being faced could be to allow adults to ride on school buses: “School buses are running around the county, it’s been said we are unable to mix school children and adults.

“But if we have buses that are suitable for people to use for work, shouldn’t we encourage that — there could be more money in it for you?”

Cllr Hart said he was ‘happy to look into it again’.

One member of the group asked: “How much are the police going to have next year?”

Cllr Hart said he could not answer that question as he didn’t have the figures but he would ask the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Cllr Hart was thanked for the update and answers given.