Agenda item

To secure Committee approvals and appropriate delegations to the current version of the draft Enhanced Partnership Plan (EPP), recognising development of the detail will be ongoing over the next three months. Approval now will enable Department for Transport (DfT) to confirm release and drawdown of funding from this point onwards. This is required to support acceleration of initial Mayoral Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) priorities including fares packaging and Network Reviews, as well as detailing the next steps of the programme.

The Metro Mayor Dan Norris introduced the report and stated that the region achieved the second highest funding settlement nationwide for buses and that the report would help to achieve the delivery of these schemes.

Cllr Steve Bridger, Leader, North Somerset Council was invited to address the meeting on this item as the scheme related to North Somerset.  He thanked officers for the work that had gone into achieving a successful bid.  He welcomed the chance to work together as a region on this.  He stated that the steer from government was on increasing patronage on buses through fare reduction although services needed to be sustainable and reliable going forward to encourage passengers away from their cars and ensuring growth and stability in the network on the back of a strong fare offer.

The recommendations were moved by Metro Mayor Dan Norris and seconded by Cllr Kevin Guy.  Cllr Guy suggested an amendment to the recommendations in line with the previous item to allow delegations to CEOs (recommendations 2, 3 & 4).

Mayor Rees stated that he wished to see a specific commitment for free bus fares for 18-25 year olds which would need the support of the Combined Authority.  Metro Mayor Dan Norris stated that he could not give that specific commitment at the moment as the challenge was to get patronage levels up across all groups.  Mayor Norris wanted to bid for extra money from the Government for this specific age group and was happy to keep having this discussion.

Cllr Savage stated that a protocol was needed to look at funding in its totality and all funding pots in the region be used towards a reliable bus service.  Mayor Norris stated that he would follow this up.

[Voting arrangements: Decision requires majority agreement of Committee Members in attendance, or their substitutes (one vote representing each Authority) and including the West of England Combined Authority Mayor].  The recommendations were unanimously agreed (including the revised recommendations 2, 3 & 4) with the exception of recommendation 1 which was for noting and therefore did not require a vote.

The Combined Authority Committee RESOLVED to:

1. notes the DfT indicative BSIP revenue funding allocation of £105.5m over a 3-year period, the second highest award in the country. The size of the BSIP award coupled with the more substantial City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement provides an exciting opportunity for us to be bold in how we generate a step change in all aspects of the bus customer experience.

2. That the Committee approves the current version of the draft EPP (Appendix A) which was submitted to government on 30 June subject to political sign-off and delegates to the Combined Authority Director of Infrastructure, in consultation with the relevant council directors, authority to approve the final EPP. In the absence of unanimous agreement the delegation reverts to the Combined Authority Chief Executive in consultation with the Unitary Authority CEO’s.

3. That the Committee delegates to the Combined Authority Director of Infrastructure, in consultation with North Somerset Council, authority to determine any matters required by the DfT in relation to the final funding agreement, including any changes to the spend profile in Appendix B. In the absence of unanimous agreement the delegation reverts to the Combined Authority Chief Executive in consultation with the Unitary Authority CEO’s.

4. That the Committee delegates to the Combined Authority Director of Infrastructure and Director of Investment and Corporate Services, in consultation with North Somerset Council, authority to spend against the BSIP delivery programme within the funding allocation from the DfT. In the absence of unanimous agreement the delegation reverts to the Combined Authority Chief Executive in consultation with the Unitary Authority CEO’s.