Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 5^th February 2020 were agreed and signed as a true record. All matters arising from Minute 50/19 headed ‘Bus Provision in Coventry’ were dealt with in Minute 56 below.  

Briefing Note of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

Councillors J O’Boyle and D Welsh, Cabinet Member and Deputy Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration and Councillors Hetherton and Lloyd, Cabinet Member and Deputy Cabinet Member for City Services have been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item along with Councillor P Akhtar, who, along with Councillor Welsh, are the Council’s representatives on the West Midlands Combined Authority Transport Delivery Committee.

Representatives from National Express and Transport for West Midlands have also been invited to attend

Further to Minute 50/19 headed ‘Bus Provision in Coventry’, the Committee considered a briefing note of the Director of Transportation and Highways which provided information on the framework of options under the Bus Services Act 2017;  national bus funding and opportunities; a breakdown of elements of the levy for the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA)and how this translated to specific costs for Coventry; statistics for the recently introduced platinum bus service; UK City of Culture 2021 bus provision; and climate change and electric city. The meeting followed on from the Committee’s last meeting on 5^th February when the Committee had considered Bus Provision in Coventry. A briefing note of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator provided an update from this meeting.

Councillors P Akhtar and D Welsh, the Council’s representatives on the West Midlands Combined Authority Transport Delivery Committee attended the meeting for the consideration of this item. Chris Gibbens, Martin Hancock and Nikki Houghton, National Express, and Pete Bond and Andy Thrupp, Transport for West Midlands, were also in attendance.

The briefing note referred to the legislative framework for bus provision including the 1985 Transport Act  which deregulated the bus market. Reference was made to subsequent Transport Acts in 2000 and 2008. The 2008 legislation contained powers to franchise bus services in the event that an authority felt that they were not being provided adequately by private operators. Cornwall Council had been successful in introducing a franchise system.

In 2017 further legislation was introduced providing a new suite of powers to enable stronger, more binding, partnerships known as Enhanced Partnerships, to be introduced, franchising powers with automatic entitlement to Mayoral Combined Authorities, and new powers to introduce ticketing schemes and improved data provision from bus operators. An appendix to the briefing note set out further details of the Act and its powers.

The Committee were informed that in June 2019 the WMCA Board approved moving to an Outline Business Case (OBC) to consider in greater detail the powers and options contained within the Act. This detailed assessment was underway and would be completed in April 2021. The three options under consideration were

·  Do minimum (Bus Alliance) as current

·  Further deregulated powers (Enhanced Partnerships)

·  Regulated powers (Franchising)

There would be opportunities for the Council to have an input during this process.

The Strategic Vision for Bus was approved by the WMCA in November 2018 and was the agreed Vision for the region to set out what was wanted from the bus services. A copy of the Vision was set out at a second appendix.

The briefing note referred to the West Midlands Bus Alliance. The Alliance was a partnership that came into being in 2015 with the aim of delivering improvements across the bus network throughout Coventry and the wider West Midlands. The Alliance was held up at a national level as a leading example of what could be achieved through public and private partnership. Membership was detailed. A summary of its objectives and achievements to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56.

Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Committee noted their work programme for the current municipal year.

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as a matter of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

There were no additional items of public business.