Agenda item - Strategic rail investment

Report for consideration by the Combined Authority Committee and the Joint Committee.

1. The West of England Joint Committee RESOLVED:

To adopt the 10 Year Rail Delivery Programme and to endorse its programme of schemes as the basis for future rail investment in the West of England area.

2. The West of England Joint Committee RESOLVED:

To delegate authority to the WECA Chief Executive Officer in conjunction with the West of England Unitary Authority Chief Executive Officers to approve the project scope and value for money assessment and release of funding for the next phase of MetroWest Phase 1a (Severn Beach & Westbury Lines) works up to a value of £1m from within the Investment Fund from within the agreed £116.4m of MetroWest Phase 1 budget to facilitate the start of enhanced services.

3. The West of England Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED:

To delegate responsibility for approval of the Full Business Case for up to £552k from the Investment Fund for the Access for All (AfA) station enhancements to the WECA Chief Executive Officer in conjunction with the West of England Unitary Authority Chief Executive Officers.

4. The West of England Joint Committee RESOLVED:

To delegate authority to the WECA Chief Executive Officer in conjunction with the West of England Unitary Authority Chief Executive Officers to approve the signing of an Enhanced Service and Funding Support Agreement with First Great Western Limited to support initial start-up costs to enable operation of MetroWest Services.

The Combined Authority Committee and the Joint Committee considered a report seeking approval to adopt the 10 Year Rail Delivery Programme and endorsement of the schemes included as the basis for future rail investment in the region (agenda item 11).

The Chair highlighted the following aspects of the report and commented as follows:

* The 10 year Rail Delivery plan encompassed all existing rail projects, including MetroWest and the key strategic enhancements to be delivered over the next 10 years and aligned with Network Rail’s current and long-term plans.

* MetroWest was a project of real national significance, and that significance was recognised in the National Infrastructure Strategy published last week by the Government.

The recommendations for both the Combined Authority Committee and the Joint Committee as set out in the published report were then moved by the Chair and seconded by Cllr Romero.

Cllr Romero commented that she welcomed this investment, which was essential if the region was to move to more sustainable modes of transport; having a 10 year rail delivery plan in place was key to the region’s ambitions in relation to climate change and sustainability. Whilst welcoming the plan, she expressed slight disappointment that Saltford station remained a scheme in the category that ‘could’ come forward in the next 10 years.

Cllr Savage welcomed the regional and pan-regional approach being taken to the future of rail. Delivering these complementary strategies would also serve to dramatically enhance the already powerful connectivity offer of the Western Gateway extending to South Wales and demonstrated why the West of England was such a central focus for that geography and was really on the radar of government and others for this sort of investment.

From a South Gloucestershire perspective, he added that these rail enhancements were vital to supporting the sustainable development of Yate and Charfield. The programme also included an important enhancement and redevelopment at Bristol Parkway which was a focal arrival and transition point for South Gloucestershire and in a part of the region that was economically successful. He echoed the points raised by one of the public speakers earlier at the meeting, Cllr Brian Allinson, who, along with his ward colleagues, had campaigned relentlessly to see improvements being made to the very noticeable ‘pinch point’ underneath the Parkway railway bridge. He also welcomed the positive impacts the plan would bring for Yate as South Gloucestershire’s largest town and through the masterplanning work that committee members had already agreed to resource - that work was re-imagining Yate town centre, alongside increased frequency of rail services, the exciting prospect of a transformed Yate train station, and the development of the park and ride just a couple of hundred metres away, demonstrating an integrated transport offer and investment in sustainable travel that was being delivered through the Combined Authority. Overall, he was very happy to support the report’s recommendations.

Cllr Davies also welcomed the regional approach to transport delivery and the update on the funding. He expressed a slight concern in that a less bureaucratic approach from government could enable quicker progress to be made in bringing forward and delivering ‘shovel ready’ rail projects for the benefit of residents and to help meet some of the climate emergency goals. In terms of climate emergency considerations, he was disappointed that in appendix 1, there was no reference to electrification to Bristol Port as his understanding was that it was government policy that there should be electric rail to all ports, and certainly to a major port like Bristol. He welcomed the extra funding for station enhancements, including those at Nailsea and Backwell station, but clearly there was a lot more to do in terms of making that station truly accessible for people with disabilities. Overall though, he was very supportive of the report.

Mayor Rees welcomed the report, which represented good news for further investment in the region’s public transport offer, emphasising the importance of the West of England as a central hub within the Western Gateway, bringing added connectivity to the region. Very specifically, the Metrowest phase 1a Severn Beach to Westbury line increased frequency was very welcome. He also raised the issue of accessibility; it was essential to press on with work to make sure stations were accessible; a number of stations in Bristol were not, and this involved unacceptable inconvenience for disabled people. For a truly accessible, equal and fair public transport system, it was essential to drive forward progress on this.

Professor West welcomed the report but stressed that there needed to be ongoing investment to connect up infrastructure in the region and get public transport working effectively and efficiently and in a way that met the accessibility needs of communities. This programme was a really good start. It would be essential to deliver these projects efficiently and effectively with pace but also with control. Nationally, lots of these big projects had seen costs overrun and it was essential not to get caught in that trap. It would be important to keep the pressure on government to help ensure that projects are delivered at pace, so that the investment started to ‘pay back’ but also gave a platform to then build on in terms of future bids for public transport improvements.

The Chair then moved to the voting on the recommendations. Voting took place as per constitutional requirements.