Agenda, decisions and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Lynne Stagg, Cabinet Member for Traffic and Transportation.  Councillor Suzy Horton, Deputy Leader chaired the meeting in her place.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Portsmouth Park & Ride Contract Extension report by the Director of Regeneration was omitted from the Forward Plan covering 18 January to 18 April 2023.  The Chair of the City Council's Scrutiny Management Panel has been notified and a public notice published.

1.    Noted the omission to the Forward Plan for 18 January to 18 April 2023.

2.    Noted the publication of the omission notice.

Members noted the omission to the Forward Plan for 18 January to 18 April 2023 and noted the publication of the omission notice

Purpose of Report

The purpose of this paper is to seek agreement to extend the existing Portsmouth Park & Ride contract to October 2024.

Recommendations

It is recommended that the Cabinet Member for Traffic and Transportation:

1.    Agrees to extend the current supported Portsmouth Park & Ride contract up to 26 October 2024 with delegated authority to the Director of Regeneration in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Traffic and Transportation and Section 151 Officer to negotiate with the current contractor;

2.    Agrees the increase to the current contract price to an amount identified through the Department for Transport instigated network review process to a maximum increase of £45,000 per annum;

3.    Approves the development and implementation by the Transport Service supported by Procurement and Legal Services, of a procurement strategy to re-tender the contract.  The process will include review of options for the electrification or hydrogen operation of Park & Ride services, either at point of contract award or over the term of the contract.  This process will be informed by the projected impact of recent successful Portsmouth City Council funding applications including South East Hampshire Rapid Transit (SEHRT) and Portsmouth Bus Service Improvement Plan;

4.    Approves that pre-procurement activities may commence, including for peer review with fellow councils and soft market testing with operators.

5.    Notes that waiver approval will need to be sought from Procurement and Legal Services in respect of the proposed extensions to the contracts set out above, in accordance with the Council's Contracts Procedure Rules.

1.    Agreed to extend the current supported Portsmouth Park & Ride contract up to 26 October 2024 with delegated authority to the Director of Regeneration in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Traffic and Transportation and Section 151 Officer to negotiate with the current contractor;

2.    Agreed the increase to the current contract price to an amount identified through the Department for Transport instigated network review process to a maximum increase of £45,000 per annum;

3.    Approved the development and implementation by the Transport Service supported by Procurement and Legal Services, of a procurement strategy to re-tender the contract.  The process will include review of options for the electrification or hydrogen operation of Park & Ride services, either at point of contract award or over the term of the contract.  This process will be informed by the projected impact of recent successful Portsmouth City Council funding applications including South East Hampshire Rapid Transit (SEHRT) and Portsmouth Bus Service Improvement Plan;

4.    Approved that pre-procurement activities may commence, including for peer review with fellow councils and soft market testing with operators;

5.    Noted that waiver approval will need to be sought from Procurement and Legal Services in respect of the proposed extensions to the contracts set out above, in accordance with the Council's Contracts Procedure Rules.

Simon Bell, Principal Public Transport Officer, introduced the report. 

The purpose of this report was to seek agreement to extend the existing Portsmouth Park & Ride contract to October 2024.

Members' questions

In response to Members' questions, officers clarified:

·         A legal challenge, due to the length of the current contract (exceeding the 8-year period), was not anticipated following discussions with both First Bus and Stagecoach, during which neither company expressed concern.   Park and Ride usage had been very low because of the long period of non-operation during Covid and Lockdown.  This had effectively delayed the whole service. 

·         For the current financial year, the deficit on the Park and Ride was approximately £400k.  The deficit had deteriorated over the course of the pandemic.  Officers agreed to provide the exact figures to members as requested.  The Park and Ride was being subsidised from the Parking Reserve.

·         Officers agreed to provide Members with a breakdown of the total of the Parking Reserve, what it is being spent on and allocated to.

·         The cost of purchasing electric buses is substantially more than diesel buses but the running costs of electric buses are substantially less.  The warranty period of an electric bus battery is 10 years whereas diesels buses can run for approximately 16 years with repairs. 

Chair's summary

The Chair thanked officers for the report, noted the questions and responses and noted her approval for the recommendations.

Decision

Councillor Suzy Horton, on behalf of the Cabinet Member for Traffic and Transportation:

1.    Agreed to extend the current supported Portsmouth Park & Ride contract up to 26 October 2024 with delegated authority to the Director of Regeneration in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Traffic and Transportation and Section 151 Officer to negotiate with the current contractor;

2.    Agreed the increase to the current contract price to an amount identified through the Department for Transport instigated network review process to a maximum increase of £45,000 per annum;

3.    Approved the development and implementation by the Transport Service supported by Procurement and Legal Services, of a procurement strategy to re-tender the contract.  The process will include a review of options for the electrification or hydrogen operation of Park & Ride services, either at point of contract award or over the term of the contract.  This process will be informed by the projected impact of recent successful Portsmouth City Council funding applications including South East Hampshire Rapid Transit (SEHRT) and Portsmouth Bus Service Improvement Plan;

4.    Approved that pre-procurement activities may commence, including for peer review with fellow councils and soft market testing with operators;

5.    Noted that waiver approval will need to be sought from Procurement and Legal Services in respect of the proposed extensions to the contracts set out above, in accordance with the Council's Contracts Procedures Rules.

Purpose of Report

The purpose of this report is to provide an update on the development of Transport for the South East's (TfSE's) Strategic Investment Plan (SIP) following public consultation and recommend approval of the document.

TfSE is encouraging constituent authorities such as Portsmouth City Council (PCC) to approve the SIP before the Partnership Board considers the final SIP in March 2023 and agrees the process for submitting it to Government.

Recommendations

It is recommended that the Cabinet Member for Traffic and Transportation:

1.    Notes the inclusion of the Eastern Road active travel schemes within the SIP as outlined in section 4 of this report;

2.    Approves the final draft of the SIP for the South-East.

1.    Noted the inclusion of the Eastern Road active travel schemes within the SIP as outlined in section 4 of the report;

2.    Approved the final draft of the SIP for the South-East.

James Silvester, Interim Strategic Transport Lead, introduced the report. 

The purpose of this report was to provide an update on the development of Transport for the South East's (TfSE's) Strategic Investment Plan (SIP) following public consultation and recommend approval of the document.

TfSE was encouraging constituent authorities such as Portsmouth City Council (PCC) to approve the SIP before the Partnership Board considers the final SIP in March 2023 and agrees the process for submitting it to Government.

Members' questions

In response to Members' questions, officers clarified:

·         TfSE will submit the SIP to the Government in March 2023.  For most of the schemes in the SIP, there is no certainty as to when exactly the project will be funded or delivered.  Some of the proposals, including some of the National Highways and Network Rail schemes, are in existing programmes.  Most of the others though are unfunded.

·         Officers from Transport for South-East are talking to all 16 local transport authorities to ascertain prioritisations and short, medium or long-term aspirations as to when the schemes might realistically be delivered.

·         The document runs until 2050 and is a very long-term strategy document which would evolve over the years.

·         Schemes being included in the SIP did not mean that the Government would necessarily fund them 100%, either partly or entirely.  Some schemes may require local contributions or other sources of funding.

Members' Comments

·         Members were pleased to see the inclusion of the Eastern Road schemes in the plan.

·         Members expressed concern at the report having no measurable targets currently and requested further update reports to be bought back to the Traffic and Transportation meetings.

Chair's summary

The Chair noted the need to constantly keep projects live whilst looking for synergies with other funding opportunities and schemes to take advantage, when opportunities arise, to enter bids.  The Chair thanked officers for the report and noted her approval for the recommendations.

Decision

Councillor Suzy Horton on behalf of the Cabinet Member for Traffic and Transportation:

1. Noted the inclusion of the Eastern Road active travel schemes within the SIP as outlined in section 4 of the report;

2. Approved the final draft of the SIP for the South-East.

Purpose of Report

This report provides an update on revisions to the scheme made in the Traffic & Transportation Cabinet decision meeting in September 2022, following an update in Department for Transport (DfT) guidance.  This report provides updated recommendations for Concessionary Bus Passes reimbursement to bus operators in 2023/24 in accordance with this guidance.

Recommendations

It is recommended that the Cabinet Member for Traffic and Transportation:

1.    Notes the contents of this report;

2.    Approves that the bus operator reimbursement rate reverts to actual journeys made using the concessionary pass from 1 April 2023;

3.    Approves that unallocated concessionary travel budget be used to meet the cost for reinstating bus service withdrawals during 2023/2024 in the first instance following DfT guidance.

4.    Approves the revision of the older persons concessionary pass end time to 02:00 from the current 23:00 hours, from 1 April 2023;

5.    Delegates authority to the Director of Regeneration in conjunction with the Cabinet Member for Traffic and Transportation and the S151 Officer, to make changes to the operator reimbursement rate within the allocated budget where such changes are considered necessary having regard to any amendments to central government guidance;

6.    Notes the findings of the hospital appointment trial and extends this trial until 31 March 2024 in order to collect further data and report back to Traffic & Transportation Cabinet Member in February 2024.

1.    Noted the contents of the report;

2.    Approved that the bus operator reimbursement rate reverts to actual journeys made using the concessionary pass from 1 April 2023;

3.    Approved that unallocated concessionary travel budget be used to meet the cost for reinstating bus service withdrawals during 2023/2024 in the first instance following DfT guidance;

4.    Approved the revision of the older persons concessionary pass end time to 02:00 from the current 23:00 hours, from 1 April 2023;

5.    Delegated authority to the Director of Regeneration in conjunction with the Cabinet Member for Traffic and Transportation and the S151 Officer, to make changes to the operator reimbursement rate within the allocated budget where such changes are considered necessary having regard to any amendments to central government guidance;

6.    Noted the findings of the hospital appointment trial and extends this trial until 31 March 2024 in order to collect further data and report back to Traffic & Transportation Cabinet Member in February 2024.

Simon Bell, Principal Transport Officer, introduced the report. 

The purpose of the report was to provide an update on revisions to the scheme made in the Traffic & Transportation Cabinet decision meeting in September 2022, following an update in Department for Transport (DfT) guidance.  The report provided updated recommendations for Concessionary Bus Passes reimbursement to bus operators in 2023/24 in accordance with this guidance.

Charles Burn made a verbal deputation in favour of the proposal.  This was not minuted but can be viewed at:

Cabinet Member for Traffic & Transportation, 16 February 2023 on Livestream

Members' questions

In response to Members' questions, officers clarified:

·         Bus services being withdrawn will be detailed in a paper coming to the T&T decision meeting on 8 March 2023.  First Bus had indicated, without additional council support, they will not operate services 13/14, 18 and 22.

o   Service 18 runs from upper Paulsgrove through Cosham, Hilsea, North End and down through Fratton and Southsea.  This runs every 35 minutes Monday to Friday and every hour Saturday and Sunday.

o   Services 13 & 14 start at the city centre out of Arundel Street and operate a loop either via Milton or Baffins.  They leave as number 13 and turn to number 14 around Portsmouth City College.

o   Service 22 operates around Cosham but also goes to Farlington and Highbury.

·         Following DfT guidance, PCC will fund the service initially short term whilst a comprehensive tender of all services is carried out.  A further paper will be bought to T&T in June 2023 with recommendations in terms of which contract and which services will be awarded.  Money will be available for the whole financial year for those services.

·         Approximately £150k in support for the tendered bus services had come from the Parking Reserve in the past year.

·         Services 13/14 are subsidised on Sundays and Bank Holidays but the rest of the time they are purely commercial operations.  Service 22 is a council supported service supported to approximately £42k a year.  Services 18 & 19 are purely commercial services until the end of March.

·         There was no current passenger data from First Bus in relation to older person usage, but this would be provided.

Members' comments

·         Members considered it reasonable to revert to funding on the basis of number of trips made.

·         Members requested that consideration be given to extending the earlier start time for attendance at dental and GP appointments.

 Chair's Summary

The Chair took on board the point about extending the scheme to those attending dental and GP appointments and noted the need to research into the viability of the services.  She thanked everyone for the reports, comments and questions.

Decision

Councillor Suzy Horton on behalf of the Cabinet Member for Traffic and Transportation:

1.    Noted the contents of the report;

2.    Approved that the bus operator reimbursement rate reverts to actual journeys made using the concessionary pass from 1 April 2023;

3.    Approved that unallocated concessionary travel budget be used to meet the cost for reinstating bus service  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.