£700 per person for a return bus fare to Farnborough?

3.17.44pm GMT Thu 23rd Oct 2003

Parkside Councillor Bob Smith has slammed Surrey Heath Borough Council for running a minibus service to Farnborough costing £700 per person return.

During the summer, the Council advertised a minibus service to take young people from Camberley and the villages to the Farnborough Skate Park. It was a very rigid service, where places had to be booked in advance and parental consent forms had to be completed and deposited in advance as well.

It was revealed in the full Council meeting on Wednesday 15th October that, in the end, only two young people used the service, at a cost to the Council of £1400.

Said Bob Smith:

" This was a predictable failure which the Council seems determined not to learn from. If you are going to provide a service like this, it probably a good idea to ask the opinion of the people that are going to use it."

"But this money should never have been spent to export young people to facilities we "cannot afford" to have in Surrey Heath. We need more provision within the Borough. A central and accessible facility in Camberley backed up with smaller facilities across the Borough."

The Council has recently allocated some £72,000 to spend on improved skateboarding facilities. The Council's own research - amongst skateboarders, other young people and their parents - shows that the most popular location for improved facilities would be in central Camberley, and the second most favoured area would be Heatherside. They have however decided to spend it in Mytchett and Crabtree Park.

Cllr Smith commented: "For the record, I think this money should be spent on playgrounds in St Michael's NOW, and the Council should take just a little time in coming up with a proper strategy for skateboarding provision in Surrey Heath. And perhaps some training courses in the difference between "consultation" and "going through the motions" wouldn't come amiss."