Issue - meetings

Report of the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport (CET/22/22) on the Council’s BSIP bid after the indicative allocation from the Department for Transport (DfT), attached.

The Report also considers the reference from a special meeting of Exeter Highways and Traffic Orders Committee (HATOC) on 12 April convened to consider Bus Services in Exeter.

In addition, at full Council on 26 May 2022, a Notice of Motion on Better Buses for Devon was referred to the Cabinet for consideration.  The Notice of Motion is set out in Appendix A and Cabinet is asked to consider the content of this Report when deciding its recommendation back to Council (later in the agenda of this meeting).

In progressing the County Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan, an Impact Assessment was prepared for Cabinet on 13 October 2021. Bus Services Improvement Plan, previously circulated.

RESOLVED

(a) that the establishment of an Enhanced Partnership (EP) with local bus companies to implement actions from the Government’s National Bus Strategy and Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding allocation be continued;

(b) that a review be undertaken by the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport on the state of the network by November 2022 when the Enhanced Partnership should be in place;

(c) that the use of public transport to restore public confidence and grow passenger numbers be actively promoted;  

(d) that the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport, be given delegated authority to continue to develop the County Council’s Enhanced Partnership and respond to the commercial changes to the local bus network; and

(e) that the content of the Report be taken into account when making a decision on the Notice of Motion on Better Buses for Devon (later in the agenda for the meeting).

(Councillors Adams, Bailey, Biederman, Brazil and Hannaford attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item).

The Cabinet considered the Report of the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport (CET/22/22) on the Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) bid following the indicative allocation from the Department for Transport (DfT). The Report had been circulated prior to the meeting in accordance with regulation 7(4) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.

The Report also considered the reference from a special meeting of Exeter Highways and Traffic Orders Committee (HATOC) on 12 April convened to consider Bus Services in Exeter, highlighting the points made by Exeter HATOC about promoting the network and encouraging people back in buses was important and would be a key part of the work undertaken, including developing the Devon Bus brand across all services.

The Council had finally received an indicative funding allocation from the DfT on 4 April 2022 and the Report highlighted this and the next steps, noting that since the October 2021 Cabinet Report and the Council’s BSIP submission to the DfT, local bus services had continued to go through a difficult period due to a number of factors including the COVID-19 pandemic, changed working patterns of commuters, inflation pressures, cost of fuel and staffing shortages. The Cabinet noted that Stagecoach service failures in Exeter had led to the Special Exeter HATOC meeting of 12 April 2022.

The Report set out two proposals, the first being the establishment of an Enhanced Partnership (EP) which followed a statutory process, defined in the guidance issued by DfT following the Bus Services Act 2017 and also updated in light of the National Bus Strategy. This would comprise of an EP plan (vision) and an EP scheme (detail of how it would be achieved). An EP Board would manage the Plan and scheme, prioritise future schemes and where funding was spent, and monitor targets on both the Council and bus companies. A bus forum would also be established. It was planned to have the Partnership in place by 15 September 2022.

Proposal Two was to seek to gain powers for the franchising of local bus services as a longer-term option as part of the Devon Devolution deal. Once the powers were available, an Authority required consent from the Secretary of State for Transport to initiate the franchising process and Franchising Authorities would need to conduct an assessment of their franchising scheme, or business case (which was quite a detailed process), as well as obtaining an independent audit report on its assessment. Following preparation of the assessment and receipt of the auditor’s report the authority must consult widely on their proposals. Cabinet noted that there was a lot of work involved in any franchising option.

Proposal Three was to actively promote the use of public transport to restore public confidence and grow passenger numbers and the Report outlined how this might be achieved through the EP.

Transport was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 187