Partial dereg?
Page 21
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NONE of Scotland's regional or island councils believes that the Government's deregulation proposals is well conceived.
The councils, which include Labour and Conservative administrations, have been contributing advice to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to help it formulate a detailed response to the White Paper on buses and a series of Department of Transport and Scottish Office consultation documents on detailed aspects of the proposals.
Cosla is seeking a meeting with Government ministers to seek changes in the plans, and its officers may try to seek a compromise of competitive franchising rather than total deregulation.
But they warn that the Government may not be prepared to accept this as it would retain some form of regulation of routes and would dilute the principle of free competition.
Cosla is unconvinced by the proposal to open up bus stations to all operators. It fears that realistic handling charges would discourage operators from using the larger bus stations and would provide kerbside services instead.