That this Council:-
a. Notes that the extent of the South Yorkshire bus network has been cut by over 12 million kilometres since 2014 and understands that Rotherham residents on the lowest incomes have been therefore been deprived of travel opportunities for the purposes of education, employment and social contact with their families.
b. Notes the regional imbalances in funding for public transport services which prioritise the South of England and believes these to be unacceptable.
c. Believes that a good public transport system should run where people need it, when people need it and at a price that is affordable.
d. Understands that the Government's impact assessment of the Bus Service Act (2017) highlighted that public control would better address six out of seven Local Transport Authority objectives compared to an enhanced partnership and was the only method likely to deliver a “significant increase in patronage”.
e. Welcomes the outcomes of the South Yorkshire Bus Review (2020), including the recommendation to immediately explore the legal and financial aspects of franchising in South Yorkshire.
f. Believes that the Mayor of South Yorkshire must exercise powers to bring bus services back under local control (via franchising), at the earliest practicable date, and central government must do more to provide significant funding to revitalise local transport in the North.
g. Acknowledges that the costs of franchising cannot be estimated accurately until a “notice of intent” has been released and the associated statutory powers to access bus operators' commercial data employed.
Therefore, this Council requests that the Administration:-
(i) Inform the South Yorkshire Combined Authority of its support for conducting a statutory assessment of franchising at the earliest possible opportunity in 2022.
(ii) Request a Combined Authority vote to release a notice of intent to prepare a franchising assessment within 6 months.
Mover:- Councillor Tarmey Seconder:- Councillor A. Carter
Minutes:
It was moved by Councillor Tarmey and seconded by Councillor A. Carter that:-
That this Council:-
a. Notes that the extent of the South Yorkshire bus network has been cut by over 12 million kilometres since 2014 and understands that Rotherham residents on the lowest incomes have therefore been deprived of travel opportunities for the purposes of education, employment and social contact with their families.
b. Notes the regional imbalances in funding for public transport services which prioritise the South of England and believes these to be unacceptable.
c. Believes that a good public transport system should run where people need it, when people need it and at a price that is affordable.
d. Understands that the Government's impact assessment of the Bus Service Act (2017) highlighted that public control would better address 6 out of 7 Local Transport Authority objectives compared to an enhanced partnership and was the only method likely to deliver a “significant increase in patronage”.
e. Welcomes the outcomes of the South Yorkshire Bus Review (2020), including the recommendation to immediately explore the legal and financial aspects of franchising in South Yorkshire.
f. Believes that the Mayor of South Yorkshire must exercise powers to bring bus services back under local control (via franchising), at the earliest practicable date, and central government must do more to provide significant funding to revitalise local transport in the North.
g. Acknowledges that the costs of franchising cannot be estimated accurately until a “notice of intent” has been released and the associated statutory powers to access bus operators' commercial data employed.
Therefore, this Council requests that the Administration:-
(i) Inform the South Yorkshire Combined Authority of its support for conducting a statutory assessment of franchising at the earliest possible opportunity in 2022.
(ii) Request a Combined Authority vote to release a notice of intent to prepare a franchising assessment within 6 months.
At this point it was moved by Councillor Read and seconded by Councillor Beck that the motion be amended as follows:-
That this Council:-
To insert the words “in part as a consequence of devastating Government cuts” after the word 2014 to now read:-
h. Notes that the extent of the South Yorkshire bus network has been cut by over 12 million kilometres since 2014 in part as a consequence of devastating Government cuts and understands that Rotherham residents on the lowest incomes have been therefore been deprived of travel opportunities for the purposes of education, employment and social contact with their families.
i. Notes the regional imbalances in funding for public transport services which prioritise the South of England and believes these to be unacceptable.
j. Believes that a good public transport system should run where people need it, when people need it and at a price that is affordable.
k. Understands that the Government's impact assessment of the Bus Service Act (2017) highlighted that public control would better address six out of seven Local Transport Authority objectives compared to an enhanced partnership and was the only method likely to deliver a “significant increase in patronage”.
l. Welcomes the outcomes of the South Yorkshire Bus Review (2020), including the recommendation to immediately explore the legal and financial aspects of franchising in South Yorkshire.
m. [delete] Believes that the Mayor of South Yorkshire must exercise powers to bring bus services back under local control (via franchising), at the earliest practicable date, and [to here] [insert] Welcomes the significant steps taken already by the Mayor of South Yorkshire alongside Council leaders; including setting out clear objectives in the Bus Service Improvement Plan to cap bus fares, make buses more reliable through a series of bus priority measures, improve bus stops and real-time information, and move towards a zero emission bus fleet. [to here]
n. [insert] Notes that the Mayor of South Yorkshire has already set out his intention for the MCA to make a formal decision on investigating bus franchising within the next few weeks. [to here]
o. [insert] Believes that [to here] central government must do [insert] much [to here] more to provide significant funding to revitalise local transport in the North.
p. [deletes] Acknowledges that the costs of franchising cannot be estimated accurately until a “notice of intent” has been released and the associated statutory powers to access bus operators' commercial data employed. [to here]
Therefore, this Council requests that the Administration:-
(iii) Inform the South Yorkshire Combined Authority of its support for conducting a statutory assessment of franchising at the earliest possible opportunity in 2022, [insert] subject to the assessment itself having no financial implications for the Council. [to here]
(iv) [insert] Calls on the Government to fully fund South Yorkshire’s £570 million City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement, including the required significant investment in bus infrastructure, and the South Yorkshire Bus Service Improvement Plan. [to here]
(v) [delete] Request a Combined Authority vote to release a notice of intent to prepare a franchising assessment within 6 months. [to here]
The amendment was put and carried and became the substantive motion.
The substantive motion now read:-
That this Council:-
a. Notes that the extent of the South Yorkshire bus network has been cut by over 12 million kilometres since 2014 in part as a consequence of devastating Government cutsand understands that Rotherham residents on the lowest incomes have been therefore been deprived of travel opportunities for the purposes of education, employment and social contact with their families.
b. Notes the regional imbalances in funding for public transport services which prioritise the South of England and believes these to be unacceptable.
c. Believes that a good public transport system should run where people need it, when people need it and at a price that is affordable.
d. Understands that the Government's impact assessment of the Bus Service Act (2017) highlighted that public control would better address 6 out of 7 Local Transport Authority objectives compared to an enhanced partnership and was the only method likely to deliver a “significant increase in patronage”.
e. Welcomes the outcomes of the South Yorkshire Bus Review (2020), including the recommendation to immediately explore the legal and financial aspects of franchising in South Yorkshire.
f. Welcomes the significant steps taken already by the Mayor of South Yorkshire alongside Council leaders; including setting out clear objectives in the Bus Service Improvement Plan to cap bus fares, make buses more reliable through a series of bus priority measures, improve bus stops and real-time information, and move towards a zero emission bus fleet.
g. Notes that the Mayor of South Yorkshire has already set out his intention for the MCA to make a formal decision on investigating bus franchising within the next few weeks.
h. Believes that central government must to do much more to provide significant funding to revitalise local transport in the North.
Therefore, this Council requests that the Administration:-
(i) Inform the South Yorkshire Combined Authority of its support for conducting a statutory assessment of franchising at the earliest possible opportunity in 2022, subject to the assessment itself having no financial implications for the Council.
(ii) Calls on the Government to fully fund South Yorkshire’s £570 million City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement, including the required significant investment in bus infrastructure, and the South Yorkshire Bus Service Improvement Plan.
On being put to the vote, the motion was carried unanimously.