PTA talks 'contempt for Parliament' claims Peter Walker
Page 31
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Asserting that "once again the Government have shown a contempt for Parliament", Mr. Peter Walker, Opposition transport spokesman, quickly responded to Mr. Richard Marsh's announcement last week concerning immediate consultations with local authorities for the purpose of designating the boundaries of the proposed PTAs.
Noting that the Transport Minister quoted as his authority for these consultations clause 9 of the Transport Bill, Mr. Walker continued: "The Transport Bill is not yet on the statute .book, has not yet been given a third reading in the House of Lords, and in fact clause 9 had been amended by the House of Lords, so that no Passenger Transport Authorities can be created until after the reorganization of local government.
"Mr. Marsh has no right at this stage to ask local authorities to enter consultations with him and certainly local authorities would be unwise to involve themselves in any efforts or expenditure in connection with these consultations until if and when the Bill has been properly passed by Parliament."
Concurrently a new plea to the Transport Minister to "think again" about details of the Tyneside Passenger Transport Authority was made last week by Cllr. Neville Trotter, chairman of Newcastle transport committee which stands to lose its E3m fleet and installations.
After the Minister's announcement giving the area to be covered by the new PTA, Cllr. Trotter said that the organization should be given a year to work out its own plan for transport in the area instead of beginning reorganization as soon as the authority was formed.
-It is obviously too late to stop the plan but at least let us not rush into it and have a financial disaster on our hands.
"The Minister has put the onus on the authorities to break even, but the plan as it stands at the moment involves taking over unknown railway losses on Tyneside and all efforts to discover this figure have been thwarted," he added.
Cllr. Trotter will put his plea to Mr. Marsh when they meet later this month.
The Tyneside PTA will take over the municipal transport undertakings of Newcastle and South Shields, which have no links and share no common routes.