Minutes:
Arising from Minute No. 52 (Rotherham Railway Station Ticketing Office), although there was no response to the ending of the consultation regarding the ticketing office staff, Councillor Griffin requested that a discussion take place at the next meeting.
Agreed:- (1) That the outcome of the consultation be reported to the next meeting.
(On 31st October, 2023, it was confirmed that the proposal to close ticket offices had been scrapped - Plans to close rail ticket offices in England scrapped - BBC News)
Arising from Minute No. 52 (City Fibre), Councillor Griffin raised the issue of works taking place in his Ward and the impact on bus services. It had become clear that City Fibre did not consult with the public before commencement of any works.
Matt Reynolds, Head of Transport Infrastructure Service, explained that there were formal statutory processes in place that undertakers had to comply with to make temporary changes to the highway network. All relevant organisations were informed and the SYMCA liaised with the bus operators.
Simon Moss, Assistant Director, Planning, Regeneration and Transportation, confirmed that work undertaken by City Fibre was not a Council contract and funded by themselves. There was still a year left on their rolling programme of works with the next phase being in the Wath area.
One.Network was a publicly available website made up of a map showing exactly where there were permits in place at the moment – City Fibre, Yorkshire Water etc.
The Chair suggested that the website be included in the Neighbourhood bulletins to raise awareness of it in the communities.
Agreed:- (2) That an article be included in the Neighbourhood bulletins on One.Network.
Arising from Minute No. 52(2) (Changes to No. 10 Bus Service), Nathan Broadhead, Bus Partnership and Development Manager, SYMCA, reported that the No. 10 service was fully funded by the SYMCA since being cancelled by First Bus in 2022. There had been a minor timetable change to accommodate re-routing of an essential school bus journey as well as other re-routing. The timetable changes had been communicated in advance and unfortunately affected one passenger in particular, however, they had been essential to accommodate bus movement.
Arising from Minute No. 53 (1), the email will be forwarded to all Members relating to the level of young people that may be affected by the removal of the Zoom Beyond bus pass.
Agreed:- (3) That the information be forwarded to all Elected Members.
(The following information was received after the meeting – “As of September 2023 there were 4,472 Zoom Beyond travel passes in circulation where the address is specified as ‘Rotherham’.
I don’t have specific journey data for Rotherham, however for South Yorkshire as a whole, in the last 12 months, there were 2.3m journeys made by around 37,000 passholders using the Zoom Beyond concession.” Information sent by Paul Foers, Commercial Analytics Manager, SYMCA.)
(4) That Northern Rail be asked if the film around encouraging reporting and raising awareness of unwanted sexual behaviour across the rail networks could be shared to Elected Members once it was available (Minute No. 56 refers).
(Following the meeting Northern Rail supplied the link –