Agenda item

Up to 30 minutes will be set aside for Members of the West of England Combined Authority Overview & Scrutiny Committee to ask questions to Metro Mayor Dan Norris

The Chair welcomed the Mayor to the meeting for a Question and Answer session.    In response to questions asked by the Committee, the Mayor responded as follows:

1.    The Mayor was asked about his thoughts on the recent Best Value Notice which had been issued to the Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA) by Government.  Metro Mayor Dan Norris stated that it related to issues that were ‘live’ when he came into post and noted other Combined Authority regions had equal challenges to consider.  He explained that it was a positive opportunity to re-set and to revisit the relationships between the Combined Authority Mayoralty and the Unitary Authorities but this would have to be reciprocated particularly with upcoming political changes in Bristol.   He further questioned the timing of the notice being issued during a general election year.

2.    In response to a question about the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) and Demand Responsive Transport, the Metro Mayor Dan Norris said that he felt that officers were making some decisions without strong enough political leadership.  In relation to WESTlink, he said where this service worked well was for smaller journeys to link up with the existing transport systems.  However, it was not always working in the way that was expected and commented that this was an experiment and would be continually evolving.   He would like to re-visit this in six months and for politicians to have more input.  

3.  In relation to BSIP and the UA’s request for consultation on key proposals within the programme, Members  asked why the Mayor had not allowed this to be discussed at the meeting of the Planning & Housing and Transport Board at its 19 February 2024 meeting, despite a specific request from Cllr Sarah Warren.    Metro Mayor Dan Norris said that Cllr Sarah Warren’s approach made it difficult to have a discussion as it usually became a disagreement  about facts.  He explained that BSIP had to be seen in a much wider context as it is complicated.  Alongside this there is a need to talk about the Transport Levy.  It is the responsibility of the Councils to provide subsidised buses where there is a social need and where there was no commercially run services.  He commented that 18 months ago the Unitary Authorities decided to freeze the Levy and in that time we have seen bus inflation which inevitably meant that there would be bus cuts. Mayor Dan Norris expressed his concern with how Bath and North East Somerset Council had used the subsidised money that it had received for subsidised services in the area in a way that he was not happy with; extending the subsidy to run over an election period, knowing that these services would be cut immediately afterwards.  He further stated that he would welcome discussions with Councillors from the Unitary Authorities, but he wished for this to be done in a non- party-political point scoring way and noted that there was a need for further discussion in that respect.

4. In relation to the Paulton Bus Bid, B&NES Members said that the first they knew about this was when it was announced in the press and asked whether the Mayor had intentionally withheld this information from them and their officers.  They also felt that there was a mismatch between urban and rural areas as only non-bus organisations can apply for funding locally and urban areas do not have parish/town councils .  The Metro Mayor Dan Norris said that  WESTlocal was not a new concept and that all Combined Authority Members and relevant parish councillors had been invited to consider solutions for their area. He urged Councillors to raise concerns with him at the appropriate time as he was not necessarily aware of what Officers were doing, so that any issues could be altered and adjusted.  It was an opportunity for areas to formulate bespoke ideas as one solution does not fit every community. 

He said that Paulton had put in a bid, along with other areas, and that if Members think that there are other places that could have been included in that route, to contact him.   He said that it would be important to keep this under review. 

5. The Mayor was asked, how did he think that issues that we have with WESTLink can be resolved.  The Metro Mayor Dan Norris said that more political input and consideration of the needs of the people represented would be helpful.  He acknowledged that the scheme was not flexible enough to meet the challenges.  However,  he considered that this is an experiment and this mean that there is an opportunity to shape it in the way that we want. 

The Chair thanked the Mayor for attending the meeting.