Agenda item

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

It was noted that apologies for absence had been received from Councillor Brian Allinson, Councillor Geoff Gollop, Councillor Gary Hopkins, Councillor Brenda Massey, Councillor Steve Pearce, Councillor Peter Crew and Councillor Huw James.

 

DISCUSSION WITH METRO MAYOR

 

The Chair welcomed Metro Mayor Dan Norris to the meeting, noting that the Metro Mayor was able to attend for the first 30 minutes of this meeting.

 

Points raised / noted in discussion with the Metro Mayor:

 

a. Spatial Development Strategy: Scrutiny members flagged the importance of progressing collaborative work across the authorities to meet the envisaged timeline for delivering the Spatial Development Strategy. 

 

b. Bus service cutbacks by operators: following concerns expressed by members, the Metro Mayor commented that there was a risk of irreparable damage to the region’s bus network due to the potential loss of Bus Recovery Grant to the region from April next year.  Earlier that month, he had written a joint letter with Councillor Donald Davies ((Leader of North Somerset Council) to Baroness Vere, the Minister responsible for buses, setting out a clear message that this cliff-edge funding cut was pushing bus operators to plan for the cancellation of services. It was essential that this did not happen and he would press the government hard to confirm their continued funding support before irreversible decisions were taken by bus companies.  He was acutely aware of the negative and serious impact that any such decisions would have for many residents, especially those who were vulnerable.  Whilst appreciating the financial constraints that the Combined Authority was operating within, and the very real challenges faced by bus operators, scrutiny members agreed that this also highlighted the importance of maximising opportunities through the Bus Service Improvement Plan and Enhanced Partnership.  Members also flagged that where operators take decisions that services must change in the current situation and given the ongoing constraints, it was essential to provide prompt and timely information to service users.  The Metro Mayor stressed that he was determined to push for a London-style service; crucially, this should be a service used regularly by commuters across all sectors of the region’s workforce; it would also be critical to secure an improved rural bus services offer.

 

c. Scrutiny Transport Sub-Group: The Metro Mayor welcomed feedback arising from the recent meeting of the Scrutiny Transport Sub-Group, noting that the sub-group had flagged:

* their support for the approach of “sweating” existing assets as far as possible given the expense, long timescales and complexity of rail construction projects.

* their strong support for improving the accessibility of stations, including the new eastern entrance to Temple Meads.

* that in relation to the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan, a key next step should be the development of a network map, both a tube-style map and a more detailed alignment map.  The walking network also needed to be linked in and aligned with the High Streets work and Liveable Neighbourhoods work, so that walking to the local high street is encouraged as the norm.

d. City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement: The award of £540m to the region through the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement was discussed together with the need to focus on delivery in the next 5 years.  It was also flagged that the Transport Sub-group had identified that they would like to see more information about the transport “hubs” and a clearer, user-centred definition of their features and benefits; in the longer term, members would like to see maintenance support the improvement programmes by integrating with them in terms of timing and, where possible, using maintenance to support improvements. The Metro Mayor thanked scrutiny members for their positive and constructive input and reminded the committee that the £540m secured through the Settlement represented the highest level of investment secured per head of population when compared with the other funding awards. 

e. In relation to issues raised around governance and voting arrangements at recent Combined Authority and West of England Joint Committee meetings, the Metro Mayor stated that whilst he made no apologies for being a conviction politician and would always be guided in his voting by what he believed to be the best interests of the region, he also had deep regard for ensuring that all relevant procedures and voting requirements were adhered to strictly.

 

At the conclusion of the discussion, the Chair thanked the Metro Mayor for his attendance.