ACC dishes dereg
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THE CHANGE in the balance of power of the English and Welsh shire counties has swung the Association of County Councils against the principle of bus deregulation.
Before last May's elections, when the Conservatives' dominance of the ACC was wiped out by an increase in Alliance representation, the ACC supported the principle but opposed the detail of the Transport Bill.
Now, its planning and transportation committee has supported Cleveland Labour councillor Paul Harford's initiative and is fighting a twopronged battle by opposing the principle and the detail of the Bill.
The Conservatives on the committee continued to support the principle, but were outvoted.
It is to press the Government for a greater degree of co-ordination with protection for tendered services.
It wants operator licensing to be strengthened and brought in line with goods vehicle 0-licensing which lays down environmental controls on the use of depots, and for traffic regulation conditions to be placed on the routeing of buses and their use of bus stops and bus stations.
According to the ACC, concessionary fares pass-based schemes should continue, and existing schemes should be protected by Government funds.
It wants deregulation Dday to be postponed from October 1 next year to Christmas Day 1986, to ease the transition to deregulation and to permit more privatisation to take place before deregulation, • Ministers are unlikely to try to overturn the House of Lords vote (CM, July 27) to give existing operators a right to object to new operator licence applications or renewals of existing licences.
They only removed the right in the Commons after Conservative back-benchers applied pressure, and they feel "quite relaxed" about its reinstatement.
• The Transport Tribunal is beginning to consider how it will cope with the extra work which the Transport Bill will bring, although the Bill is not expected to bring appeals to the Tribunal until April 1986 at the earliest.
• The deregulation trial area in the Cumbrian parishes of Sedburgh, Dent and Garsdale has been extended by another two years, to expire in August 1987. By then, the Government anticipates it will have been overtaken by total bus deregulation.