Funding for transport comes from a number of sources including council taxes, government grants, “government supported borrowing”, and income associated with developments such as new housing or employment sites.

The source of funding often has a major bearing on what type of project or initiative it can be used for. We estimate that over the next five years the total funding available from all sources is likely to be split approximately as shown in the following pie chart.

Approximate Funding Breakdown

Revenue

Revenue funding for transport improvements and initiatives comes mainly from council taxes, business rates, and government grants. This type of funding covers the ongoing and regular activities necessary to support the county’s transport networks. This includes road and pavement maintenance, financial support for bus services, road safety education and publicity, and staff costs.

Government Supported Borrowing

This type of funding comes in two parts:

• Maintenance funding, which is used in conjunction with our revenue maintenance budget to keep our roads and other infrastructure in good condition; and
• Integrated transport funding, which is invested in improvements to the transport networks like bus priority measures, junction improvements, cycle links, and so on

The amount of supported borrowing we have available to us will be determined by the Government, who will decide how much to allocate to us by assessing what they think we need. On this basis, the Government has indicated that Oxfordshire will receive less for Integrated Transport in the next five years than we have had in the last five years. However, we can attract extra funding from the Government if they think our Local Transport Plan is particularly good.

In addition to this type of funding, we can get extra money for individual schemes – usually expensive ‘major’ schemes such as big road improvements. We’ll be seeking this kind of funding for some of the larger schemes in the Network Development programme over the next five years.

Funding from Developments

For many years, we have been negotiating with developers to ensure improvements are made to the transport system to allow it to cope with the increased demands developments like new housing place on it. This can be used for specific transport improvements near the development (such as pedestrian crossings or new junctions), or more generally in the local area. Developers are often also required to contribute towards other local services such as schools, libraries, and community centres.