Minister off spenders
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SOUTH YORKSHIRE's high level of bus revenue support has been branded "free spending" by Transport Minister Norman Fowler who has cut the county's Transport Supplementary Grant allocation for 1981/82.
Out of a total of £122.4m for metropolitan counties, the Yorkshire "republic" gets only £10.9m, and West Midlands comes even lower with £10.1m. Top payment, of £40.4m goes to Tyne and Wear.
Greater London gets E172.9m while Oxfordshire comes lowest among the shire counties with £0.2m. Northamptonshire tops the counties with £10m. In all, the shire counties get £121.2m.
Mr Fowler said last week: "The freedom of authorities to decide their own priorities is not a freedom to spend as much as they like, Any additional spending on transport should be counterbalanced by reduction elsewhere in their budgets."