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Issue - meetings

Meeting: 26/05/2022 - Council (Item 113)

Better Buses For Devon

Councillor Hannaford to move:

 

That this Council:-

 

a)    Notes with great concern the huge reduction in the bus network across Devon, that has taken place since privatisation, deregulation, and under funding.

b)    Believes buses are essential to freeing up congested road space, to cleaning up the air that we all breathe and above all to connecting people to jobs, friends and life opportunities.

c)    Records the specific ongoing problems that our local school pupils and college students have in properly attending their places of education across Devon through inaccessible public transport.

d)   Concludes that the bus service in Devon now presents itself as a failed model, to the extent that it no longer has widespread public confidence, because of its serious long term poor performance and post pandemic dysfunctionality.

e)    Notes the completely unacceptable regional imbalances in funding for public transport services which prioritise the South East of England, and believes this must be radically reformed, and central government must do more to provide significant funding to revitalise local transport in the South West.

f)     Wants to develop, design and achieve a good public transport system that runs where people need it, when people need it and at a price that is affordable.

g)    Understands that the Government's impact assessment of the Bus Service Act (2017) highlighted that public control would better address six out of seven Local Transport Authority objectives compared to an enhanced partnership and was the only method likely to deliver a “significant increase in patronage”.

h)    Supports exercising powers to bring Devon’s bus services back under local control via franchising, at the earliest practicable date.

i)     Acknowledges that the costs of franchising cannot be estimated accurately until a “notice of intent” has been released and the associated statutory powers to access bus operators' commercial data is employed.

 

Therefore, this Council requests that the Administration:-

 

(i)            To conduct a statutory assessment of franchising at the earliest possible opportunity in 2022.

(ii)          Explore a notice of intent to prepare a franchising assessment at the earliest opportunity.

Additional documents:

Decision:

In accordance with Standing Order 6(6) the Notice of Motion was referred, without discussion, to the Cabinet for consideration.

Minutes:

Councillor Hannaford MOVED and Councillor Whitton SECONDED

 

That this Council:-

 

a)    Notes with great concern the huge reduction in the bus network across Devon, that has taken place since privatisation, deregulation, and under funding.

b)    Believes buses are essential to freeing up congested road space, to cleaning up the air that we all breathe and above all to connecting people to jobs, friends and life opportunities.

c)    Records the specific ongoing problems that our local school pupils and college students have in properly attending their places of education across Devon through inaccessible public transport.

d)   Concludes that the bus service in Devon now presents itself as a failed model, to the extent that it no longer has widespread public confidence, because of its serious long term poor performance and post pandemic dysfunctionality.

e)    Notes the completely unacceptable regional imbalances in funding for public transport services which prioritise the South East of England, and believes this must be radically reformed, and central government must do more to provide significant funding to revitalise local transport in the South West.

f)     Wants to develop, design and achieve a good public transport system that runs where people need it, when people need it and at a price that is affordable.

g)    Understands that the Government's impact assessment of the Bus Service Act (2017) highlighted that public control would better address six out of seven Local Transport Authority objectives compared to an enhanced partnership and was the only method likely to deliver a “significant increase in patronage”.

h)    Supports exercising powers to bring Devon’s bus services back under local control via franchising, at the earliest practicable date.

i)     Acknowledges that the costs of franchising cannot be estimated accurately until a “notice of intent” has been released and the associated statutory powers to access bus operators' commercial data is employed.

 

Therefore, this Council requests that the Administration:-

 

(i)            To conduct a statutory assessment of franchising at the earliest possible opportunity in 2022.

(ii)          Explore a notice of intent to prepare a franchising assessment at the earliest opportunity.

 

In accordance with Standing Order 6(6) the Notice of Motion was referred, without discussion, to the Cabinet for consideration.



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