Return to Items for DecisionDelegated Decisions by Cabinet Member for Transport – 8 January 2009Statement of Decision
Review of Funding for Octabus Dial-A-Ride Service for Disabled and Mobility-Impaired People
Present:
Also in attendance:
Documentation considered:
A copy is attached to the signed copy of this decision.
RESOLVED: that the public be excluded for the duration of item 7E since it was likely that if they were present during that item there would be disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and specified below in relation to that item and since it was considered that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information on the grounds set out under Item 7E.
Summary of representations in person
Councillor Fooks advised that the Oxford City Council Executive Board had expressed its support for the service and retention of the second bus. She would prefer to see Option 4 to Option 3 and asked for a more detailed breakdown of the required funding.
Councillor Smith endorsed that support and asked for clarification on how annual increases for inflation as referred to in recommendation (d) would be calculated.
Mr Timberlake advised that the rate of inflation would be calculated using the same published indices as those used for bus service reviews. He confirmed current funding arrangements as: County Council 52% with the three participating District Councils contributing 16% each. 70% of concessionary fares were returned to the Partnership to form an accumulated fund.
On current information the service would operate at a minimum of option 3 but with decisions expected from the Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire District Councils later in the month that could change.
Cabinet Member’s Comments
Councillor Hudspeth asked officers to investigate comments made by a local member regarding difficulties of qualification for this service and expressed the hope that option 5 would be achieved.
Decision
Having regard to the arguments and options set out in the documentation before me, the representations made to me and the further considerations set out above, I confirm my decisions on this matter as follows:
(a) to ask officers to write to Walters Limousines on behalf of the Octabus Consortium in order to express the Consortium’s appreciation for the dedication and support shown to the Consortium during the term of the current contract;
(b) to agree to continue to contribute 52% towards the total costs of the Octabus Dial-a-Ride contract;
(c) to agree to use the accumulated funds in the Octabus Consortium’s ‘revenue-share’ pot to defray the costs of the new contract over the first three years of the contract term, in the same proportions as the agreed funding shares of the new contract;
(d) to authorise the Head of Transport in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Transport to enter into a contract with the winning tenderer on the basis of a level of service commensurate with the decisions to be made by the district councils before 31 January 2009 as to their financial contributions; to collect sums from each participating district council in accordance with this agreement; and, together with the County Council’s agreed contribution, to pay the winning tenderer the appropriate sum (with annual increases for inflation) for the provision of dial-a-ride transport services for an initial three years from 1 April 2009;
(e) to agree that any district council should be expected to pay the entire additional contract costs of any additional service provision required, if the decision to do so is not made within the January decision ‘window’ allowed for; and
(f) to ask officers to bring a further report to the Cabinet Member in the event that it is intended to extend the initial three year contract term beyond 31 March 2012, as allowed for in the tendering process, or in the event that there was a substantial change to the circumstances as envisaged in the present officer’s report (Item 7E).
Signed ...................................................................... Cabinet Member for Transport
Date ………………………………….
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