Agenda item

Report enclosed.

The West of England Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED

(unanimously):

1. To note the Mayoral Fund and WECA revenue forecasts as set out in Appendices 1 and 2.

2. To delegate the award of grants to Community Transport providers for 2020/21 to the WECA Director of Infrastructure.

3. To approve a drawdown of £57k against the WECA General Reserve to fund the No.17 bus route between Southmead Hospital and Keynsham from April 2020 to February 2021; the reserve to be replenished upon the receipt of new revenue bus funding from government.

The Combined Authority Committee considered the latest Combined Authority and Mayoral budget outturn report for the financial year 2019/20 which was based on actual data for the period from April 2019 to January 2020 (agenda item 14).

The Chair highlighted the following aspects of the report:

·       From 1^st April, the Combined Authority would be taking over a number of integrated transport functions, including responsibility for the direct delivery of funding for community transport.  The budget for this was included as part of the transport levy to the constituent councils.  In 2020/21, the existing commitments to community transport providers would be honoured, and the report recommended a delegation to the Director of Infrastructure to award these grants.

·       A particular, pressing situation had emerged in relation to First Bus service no. 17 which ran from Keynsham to Southmead Hospital via Kingswood and Fishponds.  First Bus had informed the authorities that the late evening service on this route was to be withdrawn from 5^th April. 

The current position was that the government had indicated that authorities would be given further revenue for bus services, but the full details were awaited.  In the meantime, there was currently no direct extra funding available to meet the £57k annual cost of maintaining the evening service to the end of the current contract period.  The Chair added that he recognised that Service 17 was a really key service for many residents, that also took in all 3 of the constituent councils’ areas.  Due to the particular circumstances, officers were asked to identify a way to continue funding for this route in the short term, without setting a precedent for the future. Today’s report recommended that the Combined Authority would fund the evening service from April this year until February 2021 through a drawdown against the general reserve.

The report recommendations were moved by the Chair and seconded by Cllr Reade.

Cllr Godwin welcomed the interim funding solution in relation to the Service 17 evening service, highlighting the importance of this service for many residents.

Cllr Reade drew attention to the fact that this was a very sensitive time for access to health services; it had been disappointing to hear that the late evening Service 17 was being cut, and he was grateful that the committee had the opportunity to make the proposed allocation from reserves to enable the continuation of this service until such time as a wider review of contracts could be undertaken. He recognised that Service 17 was a truly regional service.

Although noting that Cllr Davies was not a member of the Combined Authority Committee, the Chair invited him to comment.  Cllr Davies commented that many North Somerset bus services served Bristol as well.  He was aware that the HCT group were about to stop operating some services and suggested there may a need to communicate with the community bus provider(s) to ascertain if any support was needed at this time.

Cllr Romero stated that in terms of solutions that may be drawn up at the current time to help bus services, it would useful to look to ensure that knowledge gained from this experience could potentially be used to inform future decisions about bus services.

The Chair then moved to the voting on the recommendations, noting that recommendation 1 was for information only.

Voting took place as per constitutional requirements.

The West of England Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED

(unanimously):

1. To note the Mayoral Fund and WECA revenue forecasts as set out in Appendices 1 and 2.

2. To delegate the award of grants to Community Transport providers for 2020/21 to the WECA Director of Infrastructure.

3. To approve a drawdown of £57k against the WECA General Reserve to fund the No.17 bus route between Southmead Hospital and Keynsham from April 2020 to February 2021; the reserve to be replenished upon the receipt of new revenue bus funding from government.