Agenda item

Forward Plan Ref: 2020/045

Contact: Dave Harrison, Senior Public Transport Planner Tel: 07901 331751

Report by Director of Planning & Place (CMDE4).

The report provides an outline of the Government's recently announced Supported Bus Services Fund, Oxfordshire's allocation from that fund for spending in 2020/21 and a Statement of Intent for submission to the Department for Transport which sets out how Oxfordshire's allocation will be spent.

The Cabinet Member for Environment is RECOMMENDED toapprove the Statement of Intent for the spending of Oxfordshire’s allocation of the Supported Bus Services fund, for submission to the Department for Transport on 13 March 2020.

Exemption from Call-in

Under Standing Orders (Section 6.2, paragraph 19 (a) to (c) the Chairman of the Council has agreed that a decision on the proposed Supported Bus Services Fund, which would normally be subject to call-in, should be exempt from that process.  That allows the County Council to meet a Statement of Intent deadline of 13 March, which if the usual scrutiny process were invoked could not be met and, therefore, would prejudice both the Council’s and public interest.

In February 2020, the Government announced a number of new funds for the provision of bus services, including a new Supported Bus Services Fund (SBSF) for use in the 2020/21 financial year subject to submission of a satisfactory Statement of Intent (SoI), Oxfordshire County Council had been allocated £588,403 of that fund although there was no guarantee that funding would be available in the following year. The Cabinet Member for Environment was being asked to approve the SoI which had been included at Annex 1 to the report CMDE4.

Officers advised on the very short timescale imposed. That had made it impossible to take this to locality meetings although there had been an opportunity to consult with parish transport representatives as there had been a meeting already scheduled with them, MPs and the Bus users Group.  A lot of discussion had been focussed primarily on rural areas and on enhancing existing services rather than new services which could be supported but the constraints set by the DfT meant that funding, which needed to be spent by May 2021 made the process for looking at new services very difficult to achieve hence the focus on enhancing services.  The strategy had been to reinstate services where it was possible to link that in with an existing school bus service to try and offset some of the cost and for some routes, which were well served during the day but not evenings and Sundays which in turn might boost partonage and, although there was no guarantee of funding next year, help progress some services to a healthy commercial service.

Councillor Sanders was disappointed that the £500K fund represented only a sixth of what the County Council used to spend and was only for one year.  Housing development was expected to increase exponentially over the next few years and with it demand for bus services.

Councillor Howson considered the needs of City residents had not been fully considered. Quoting the 14 Service that parts of his division were some distance from a bus stop and in one case 13 minutes.

Officers responded that city services were usually commercial.  Service 14 used 2 buses and as an extra vehicle would cost £160,000 for little mileage.

The Cabinet Member suggested to Councillor Howson that he put in a request regarding Service 14 to Stagecoach.

The Cabinet Member summing up felt it important to note that there had been little notice of funding. The requirement to respond by 13 March and spend by May 2021 meant that consultation, by necessity, had had to be constrained and limited. She welcomed the fact that fortuitously a previously arranged meeting had at least presented an opportunity to consult parish transport and bus user group representatives.  She noted there had been no response from MPs. She was satisfied that officers had met requirements for this process as set down by the Government noting the intention to essentially support weekend and evening enhancements to existing services with the aspiration to move to commercially supported services and where possible link in with existing school services.  Therefore, having regard to the information set out in the report before her and the representations made to her at the meeting the Cabinet Member confirmed her decision as follows:

toapprove the Statement of Intent for the spending of Oxfordshire’s allocation of the Supported Bus Services fund, for submission to the Department for Transport on 13 March 2020.

In making that decision she noted that under Standing Orders (Section 6.2, paragraph 19 (a) to (c) the Chairman of the Council had agreed that a decision on the proposed Supported Bus Services Fund, which would normally be subject to call-in, should be exempt from that process in order for the County Council to meet the Statement of Intent deadline of 13 March, as if the usual scrutiny process had been invoked it would not have been possible to meet that deadline and, therefore,  prejudice both the Council’s and public interest.

Signed…………………………………..

Cabinet Member for Environment

Date of signing…………………………