Agenda and minutes

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

(a)  To agree the Minutes of the meeting held on 5th February 2025

(b)  Matters arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 5^th February 2025 were agreed and signed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

Briefing note of the Director of City Services and Commercial

The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) received a briefing note and presentation of the Director of City Services and Commercial that provided background information on Transport for West Midlands’ (TfWM) proposal to introduce a Franchising system for bus services across the region. It followed a briefing session held on 3^rd February 2025 for all Members of the Council with TfWM. Appendices to the briefing note detailed General Franchising FAQ’s and Stakeholder FAQ’s. The Director of Integrated Transport Services, the Head of Network Transformation and Member Relationship Manager, from TfWM attended the meeting for this item.

TfWM was the Local Transport Authority for the West Midlands, with overall responsibility for the bus network across the region. However, the services themselves were run by commercial operators from the private sector, with National Express being by far the largest operator in the region. At present, the West Midlands had a ‘deregulated’ bus network. This meant that where services were run on a commercial basis, it was the operators themselves (rather than TfWM) who were responsible for determining routes, timetables and quality standards.

TfWM was currently carrying out a public consultation on proposals to introduce Bus Franchising across the region. Under a Franchising system, it would be TfWM who planned the network and then awarded contracts to bus operators, paying them to run services. The public consultation opened on 6 January 2025 and runs until 30 March 2025. Coventry City Council was a statutory consultee and Council officers would be preparing a corporate response to the consultation. TfWM were also seeking responses from residents. The Councils’ Communications Team was engaged and was sharing the consultation materials with residents. Details of the consultation were available via TfWM’s website at https://www.tfwm.org.uk/consultations/bus-reform/. The consultation materials included more detailed explanations of what franchising would entail, how much it would cost, what TfWM expected the benefits to be, and how and when it would be implemented, as well as how to respond to the consultation. A seminar for all Members was held on these elements of the consultation on 3 February 2025.

The West Midlands Combined Authority expected to make a final decision on whether or not to implement Franchising in May 2025, following completion of the consultation. If approved, bus services in Coventry would be franchised in 2027.

TfWM had carried out a Health and Equity Assessment of the proposal to proceed with Franchising. The assessment had been published as part of the consultation materials and was available at: https://www.tfwm.org.uk/media/ sajdpzou/health-and-equity-impact-assessment-west-midlands-bus-franchising-assessment.pdf

In considering the briefing note and a presentation by officers, the Board asked questions and received responses on matters in the following areas:

·  Funding – TfWM received Levi funding that supported regional transport, along with Government funding to support revenue, and Bus Service Improvement Plan funding via some repurposed funding

·  Check and balances on contract delivery – financial diligence tried and tested processes in place, and appropriate mitigations would be put in place for risk issues

·  Standards would be applied (national agency standards) to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

Briefing note of the Director of City Services and Commercial

The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) received a briefing note and presentation of the Director of City Services and Commercial on the projects that the City Council was currently involved with that related to the use of drone technology. A representative of the Contractor, the Technology Manager from Midland Airspace, and the CEO from Skyfarer, attended the meeting for this item.

Drones were unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) that were increasingly being used for a range of activities within both military and civilian environments, with use regulated by Government through the Civil Aviation Authority.

Coventry City Council had been a partner in a range of projects relating to the use of drone technology, including the first-of-a-kind demonstration of the Urban Air Port (UAP) on the Westminster Road Car Park in Coventry City Centre in May 2022. This showcased the construction and operation of a facility from which passenger and freight carrying drones could potentially operate and attracted international attention to Coventry. The UAP demonstration highlighted some of the current limitations on drone use, as traffic management measures were required during drone operations to ensure that drones were not operating over live traffic. This, combined with the restrictions over operating drones beyond the visual line of sight, restricted the capability for using drones for more mainstream activities such as undertaking parcel deliveries, moving light freight around cities, and moving essential items such as medical supplies.

Since the UAP demonstration, the Council had been a partner in other projects relating to drone technology:

·  Project Skyway - to examine the regulatory framework that controls the operation of drones in the UK to identify how this needs to be adapted to support the safe operation of drones for mainstream activities. 

·  The Drone Ready City project - led by Midlands Air Alliance with grant funding of £285,000 from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, it focussed upon leading the development of processes aimed at supporting local authorities in the integration of drones into their everyday activities. 

Examples of the uses that the City Council was making of drone technology, in partnership with Skyfarer (a spin off company from Coventry University), included:

·  Traffic surveys

·  Bridge and Building inspections

·  Building surveys

·  A project for the transportation of medical supplies between the Hospital sites at Rugby and Walsgrave, Coventry.

Other potential uses included the ability to send a drone to investigate causes of congestion, delivering goods between Council buildings, supporting security patrols by covering larger areas more quickly than a ground patrol, and undertaking surveys of highway condition.

The outputs from the Drone Ready City project had been shared with other local authorities through a series of demonstrations and events, including attendance at the Local Government Association annual meeting. Involvement with the project had further enhanced Coventry’s reputation as a City Council that was at the cutting edge of transport technology, embracing projects such as Coventry Very Light Rail as well as the testing of autonomous vehicles on the Council’s highway network. 

The involvement of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Business, Economy, and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) received a report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator that detailed issues on the Board’s Work Programme for meetings of the Board for 2024/25.

RESOLVED that the Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3):

1)  Notes the issues on the Board’s Work Programme for 2024/25 and that an item headed ‘Heatline Update’ had been added to the Work Programme, for consideration in 12 months’ time.

2)  Agrees that in respect of the Local Cycling and Walking Innovation Plan, a Task and Finish Group be established.

There were no other items of public business.