CPCA live stream
E e e e e e e e e e thank you welcome to the um 13th of March 2024 meeting of the combined Authority transport and infrastructure committee held in the um meeting room of Cambridge City Council I’d like to begin by welcoming those members of the public and press
Who have joined us today here in Cambridge and also those who are watching the meeting on our live stream the combined Authority allows filming and photography at its public meeting so please feel free to take pictures and use social media during the meeting can I ask though that everyone
Present turns their mobile phones to silent or vibrate whilst the meeting is taking place due for feel free just to do a double check now as I am doing there are no fire drills scheduled for today um this feels a little bit on the loud side I’m getting a tiny bit of
Feedback I don’t know if that’s oh we’ll wait till our Tech return for that um there are no fire drills scheduled for today so if the alarm sounds I will adjourn the meeting we will all move to the master point it says the High Street but I assume it’s actually the um Market
Square but um do we have Joe do we have an updated Master Point yeah um I would remind members and officers that the meeting will be recorded so we’re going to move on to item one of the agenda this is announcements apologies for absence and Declarations of interest there are no
Announcements um would the governance manager let us know of any apologies please thank you chair yes uh we’ve heard apologies from um the mayor okay thank you does any member wish to disclose um declare a disclosable pecuniary interest or non-statutory disclosable interest in any items being considered today
Yes yes um yes I’d like to declare a non pecuniary interest um as I am a trustee of the fact um services and I know there’s an item on here which I want to speak on which is uh to do with buses thank you thank you and as always please
Remember you can declare interest at any point during the meeting um if you have an interest that you need to declare just keep your hands up and I will notice that you’ve got your hand raised and I will make sure that we have logged that so item two is the
Minutes is the committee H happy to approve approve the minutes from 17th of January as an accurate record and to note the action log okay I see no objections so we will take the minutes as approved and the action log as noted I’m just signing the minutes
Here was in a different place passing it down the wrong way and I should have said on apologies that the mayor is sorry he can’t be here today um he has another combined Authority meeting that clashes so we have a lot of business to get through at the moment at the combined Authority
It’s not possible always for us all to be at both so item three is public questions we have received six questions from members of the public all of which have been published on the website and circulated to members I will ask the governance manager to read out the
Questions from those people who are who are unable to attend today and I I will invite those who have joined us today to come to the table to ask their questions questions will be taken in the order that they were submitted and I will give a response to each one in turn those
Responses will be published on the website after the meeting I should also say of course if those responses um kind of raise further questions I’m more than happy to answer those if any of the questioners would like to get in touch really really happy to do so I’m
Appreciative it’s quite a formal process but we are obviously all Keen to engage in that formal discussion as well and I believe we do have um so I can see it’s Sarah isn’t it so we do have question for um C Sarah from camb sustainable travel lights in the room
And do we also have um Cambridge area bus users as well I think they were hoping to come but we don’t so I think all the others will be read out by Joe so Joe do you want to start by reading out the first question please thank
Thank you yes the first question is from Peter wake from rail future East Anga the question is rail future East Anga is pleased to see from the agenda pack that Network rails options appraisal report will be discussed at the transport and infrastructure committee meeting in June this report
Was scheduled to be published by the end of March is the report still expected to be published by the end of March and can the cpca send a copy of the report to rail future East Angar as soon as it is published rather than having to wait
Until the agenda pack for June meeting Joe and can we just note that’s actually Peter Wakefield so that seems to have just so we make sure that’s correct for the minutes please um Network rail has shared its draft engineering options appraisal report and in April will deliver the second phase of the study
Which covers the cost and economic analysis the combined Authority absolutely recognizes the significant importance of network well report and we will undertake a strategic view by officers and partners in this regard active engagement will be absolutely essential and we will need to collaborate with members and key stakeholders to
Contribute to the agenda item for the transport and infrastructure committee which is currently scheduled for June 20124 and I really hope we’re going to be able to receive that report at that point thank you Peter question two please thank you chair question two is from Paul hollinghurst um CER res resident
In 2021 as part of its Making Connections work the greater Cambridge partnership conducted a study on the future bus service needs of a Cambridge a of Cambridge air and published a plan which included a key bus corridor from Cambridge to St n via campor currently the services for cambour on this
Corridor are poor with a city for from Cambridge to cambour suffering from serious problems with punctuality and reliability and the 18 from cambour to St nit being infrequent and often not serving the east of St nit missing the railway station L’s farm and winteringham developments from mid- afteron noon
Onwards the precept investment is an opportunity to improve bus services and includes improve frequency camborn Cambridge however there is no proposal to improve the service from campor to St n can the committee comment on why this link which was identified as a key bus Corridor by the gcp through studies and
Consultations is not being considered for improvement under the CPC a precept has the gcp study been assessed by the cpca thank you Paul and um we do also have an item on this later in the agenda and it’s possible that our bus team would be um Keen to add more at this
Point so feel free feel free to do so Andrew if you’d like to then um I think one of the key things to emphasize here is that there is an awful lot that we need to do to reform buses right across the region and at the combined Authority we absolutely
Recognize that and that is why we are also looking at how we can reform our bus Network and system more broadly the importance of improving those connections between Cambo and Cambridge was recognized in the pret funding investment list and that Improvement is initially focused on service four and looking to work with
The commercial operator on options to improve the frequency and reliability of that service and work on that is ongoing so we can make sure residents who need an improved bus service get it later this year however we are also exploring with bus operators how section 106 developer funding for the West cambour
Development could be used to provide a service linking the site with Cambridge and neat with an ambition to open this up to other parts of cboard and absolutely take your point that it is so important that where possible Railway stations are part of that connectivity and I suspect that’s going to come up
More as we um discuss other items through this meeting in addition We are continuing to encourage Stage Coach to serve campor with the 9005 service um we know there are significant concerns around that service at the moment but as this operates on a commercial basis it’s at
Their it’s at their discretion so again part of this is thinking about what we can do in the longer term with our reform of the bus system to allow us to be more joined up as a genuine Network here thank you question three please thank you chair um question three
Is from Simon Martin who’s a resident of Cambridge here in pet area at each tick meeting the director’s highlight report contains statistics on public transport in the cpca region uh these are on pages 17 and 18 of your agenda pack this month I’ve been keenly following online each meeting very eager
To see better public transport in this region but disappointed that these statistics regularly haven’t had a mention in TI meetings late last year there was news from neighboring norol of usage increased by 18% in the last year and the number of fair paying passengers now at 107% compared to prepandemic Baseline
Figures in January this year there was further news from Nori of connect buus announcing an increase of 2.6 million individual passenger Journeys 16% up April to December 2022 to 2023 yet what we do have in our area more cuts and reductions from at least one wellestablished operator due to low
Passenger numbers not covering their operating costs this suggests the situation here isn’t as positive how does Cambridge Sher and Peterburg compare with the national picture better or worse public transport growth and recovery from pre-co figures how does the region compare with neighboring counties other M10 areas and London what
Percentage are we up or down like neighboring Norfolk information like this doesn’t appear to be getting reported to the committee currently there’s no rag rating or similar system to allow counselors to be formed on month- on-month and year-on-year progress lacking analysis context and any real idea if the interventions
Interventions financial and other by cpca into public transport are actually heading in the right direction or not therefore my question is will the combined Authority ensure the transport statistics in the report are covered at each meeting going forward and introduce new useful and relevant metrics which will be reported to the committee and
The board thank you Simon that’s incredibly helpful um there’s a lot in here so I’m going to give you a summary answer we’re obviously happy to come back on further details um as needed it’s really important that monitoring and evaluation and um looking at appropriate metrics is something that
We do and we take seriously and that’s something you’d have probably also noticed is happening at the combined Authority board level as well as we look at how we can monitor our progress as a whole Authority so this is very much in line with that and we need to understand
What’s working well and what’s working not so well and to reassure you this is also something that we are Keen to hear more of as a transport and infrastructure committee and we are in discussion with officers about ensuring that we can do that as effectively as possible as part
Of our regular um committee Cycles so we absolutely welcome this question um particularly your points around patronage of the Network and the reliability and punctuality of services that’s that’s really key and we’ve asked officers to Begin work on how to best calate and visualize such information to inform a better bus
Work Network and that follows on from some really effective enhanced monitoring of contracted routs which was undertaken during the network review of 2023 and I think provides a really excellent model for how we can take this forward now it is fair to say Patron stats a root level are very difficult to
Collate and put into public Force forums because roots are not always controlled directly by us they are commercial as well and where there are commercial Roots we can’t just insist on taking that data and putting that in the public space however operators will officers will be engaging further with bus
Operators to see what is possible high level stats for each region are provided by the Department of Transport and we will put a link in the written response to this the combined Authority region Grew From 12 .4 to 17.3 million passenger Journeys from 2023 22 to 23 this was one of the
Highest growths in patronage by percentage captured however it is important to note this is still below pre-pandemic levels of patronage and our officer team are working to deliver a pace on the range of Investments that we can put in place to grow patronage further we’re also monitoring other key stats such as
Concessionary card applications and usage and we will be ensuring a clear monitoring process for the one pound under 25 fairs which will shortly be introduced thank you now question four Sarah thank you for waiting we do have um you here in person where are we asking you to
Come um good morning everyone I’m asking my question on behalf of Cambridge sustainable travel Alliance we’re an alliance of 31 organizations active in the areas of Transport environment and health cambrid County council’s electric cargo bike try before you buy scheme which is run by Alliance member organization outspoken Cycles on behalf
Of Cambridge County Council has been a great success the scheme offers Trials of EC cargo bikes for both businesses and families of up to8 weeks for businesses and two weeks for families so participants have an extended period in which to test out High bikes work for
Them it’s been so popular that at the time of January’s cpca board meeting there was a 4-we waiting list to try a bike over the lifetime of the scheme there have been over 160 trials and over 65% of participants have decided to purchase a cargo bike after the trial
Period a parent who’s recently used the scheme said to me last week we wouldn’t have bought a cargo bike if we hadn’t been able to try it using the council scheme as they’re quite expensive the try before you buy scheme gave us confidence about the handling and
Usefulness of the bike now we use the cargo bike for nursery drop offs and Pickups amongst other Journeys which we were previously doing by car a local business own owner told me last week as well that if you couldn’t have tried he’s a handyman if you couldn’t have
Tried the bike he wouldn’t have gone ahead with the purchase it was essential to try it to have confidence to go ahead and buy it um the try before you bike cargo bike try before you buy cargo bike scheme has been running since 2021 that is due to
Stop this spring when its funding comes to an end cambrid is sustainable travel Alliance was therefore very disappointed to read in the papers for this meeting that cpc’s two EC cargo bike bids were not successful one proposed building on the existing tribe before you buy scheme adding additional bikes and expanding
Its geographical reach to cambri Market towns and Peter City so my question is will cpca work with Cambridge County Council and the greater Cambridge partnership to explore how other funding sources to explore other funding sources so that businesses and residents still able to explore how EC cargo bikes could
Work for them through a try before you buy scheme thank you and yeah I mean we completely agree I mean try before you buy schemes have got so many benefits and um in fact I think and yo Will um correct me if I’m wrong that the rather
Lovely ebikes that I tried in our Leicester visit were’re on a try before you buy was that right um and you know I think it it it does create a lot of confidence and and it really helps to extend extend uses so we were incredibly disappointed to learn
That our bid for grant funding at this time was not successful um these schemes do form a really important part of our overarching transport strategy and that’s set up within the local transport and connectivity plan so I can’t give you any clear guarantees today what I can say is that
We will keep looking at how we can make this kind of scheme work because we think it’s important and I’m sorry that’s not a more specific answer but I do want to reassure you of our um we we absolutely agree these are really important schemes thank you can I ask a follow-up
Question I’m not s normally we don’t take follow-ups I think as you’re here please I will allow you to do it in this instant as you’re the only person that’s here I’m not setting a precedent by doing this um but as you’ve turned up and I had to give you quite a short
Answer please do go ahead thank you and one of the schemes that you applied for funding for covered shared use cargo bikes I was just wondering if any approach had been made to voy to see if they could consider expanding the range of bikes that they offer in Cambridge
There is a shared use cargo bike scheme in acne isington I believe run by Barrel bikes I was wondering if that have been explored as an option as well thank you I think what I would do with that is I’ve got officers mouthing at me I’m
Assuming it’s all right if I pass if I just pass over to Anna Graham just to briefly answer on that okay um we have discussed the possibility of um supplying e cargo bites with with boy but it’s something that they’re not looking to extend into at the moment but we will always keep
Looking at options and trying to see what we can do a short answer thank you very much thank you I’m I’m going to get my wristle out for going from convention there I think but um I’m using chair’s privilege to ensure that we can get an answer to our public question there
We’re now moving on to question five from Richard Wood who is Secretary of the Cambridge area bus User Group Joe I think as Richard isn’t here are you able to read that out uh yes chair um the question is um with reference to agenda item 10 bus Network update 2.2 bus network service
Improvements 2.5 bus stop shelter improvements Cambridge area bus users and Cambridge sustainable travel Alliance congratulate students and their youth so social action Apprentice for a recent positive and constructive Cambridge here buses feedback Forum event at Long Road six form college at which students parents and the public engaged with the mayor and
Representatives from Stage Coach whippet and Stevenson’s about current services and potential new or enhanced routs both groups also welcome the establishment of a bus stop database for the region together with a program for improvements will the mayor commit to the most open and transparent processes in these matters by working with bus
Operators to establish regular bus public bus feedback Forum events with brief reports made available online and to publishing the bus stop database and proposed improvements in an accessible format eg a click clickable Mac in an accessible place on the Cambridge sh and peterb combined Authority website with the opportunity for public comment
Through EG dropdown menus for reporting deficiencies thank you Richard um I’m sorry not to see you in person today it’s really really good to hear about this well attended and useful event for feedback from students directly to the mayor and bus operators I know that the mayor found it an incredibly helpful
Experience um I’ve also been attending some sessions with um other local residents and they’re just so helpful they’re really really useful so absolutely we want to work with um groups like The Bus users group and the travel Alliance to identify what sort of forums would be would be helpful in
Future I think this is something that we should be looking at um I’m very aware that we don’t want to make ourselves hostages to Fortune here but this should be something that is available um broadly and we need to see how we can make that work in a sustainable
Way regarding bus stops this is a project underway with the aim to initially invest in a number of stops and shelters on the network the recent audit found over 2,800 stops and shelters across the region administered and managed through a number of methods so the project will start project will
Start with a targeted number of improvements however officers will be investigating governance the infrastructure and how it can best be managed moving forward to ensure a safe effective place for passengers to wait for their bus and offices and we’ll also factor in how passengers can better report faults or requests for enhanced
And new infrastructure and that’s going to be very important that we work alongside colleagues in constituent councils at all levels to think about how we can get we can kind of tag in on existing methods of reporting there as well um but we’re really aware that this issue of bust off infrastructure is
Really key in lots of in lots of places for people making the choice to use public transport so thank you Richard as ever for bringing a really helpful question there and I think then we have question six which is from Anna Williams thank you chair yeah have the
Final question um in February this year a woman cycling on the A123 which runs between Huntington and St Ives past hton and whiton was involved in a serious collision with a with a person driving a lorry newspaper reports from the following day say that she was taken to
Aden Brook’s hospital where she remained in a critical condition it is only three years since a man in his 70s cycling along this same stretch of road was killed in a collision with a person driving a car this paper acknowledges that two of the challenges faced by the
Existing a141 and St I’s Road Network are road safety issues and risk of accidents and a lack of active travel options indeed there isn’t currently a protected and segregated Cycle Way along the whole of the a 11123 which is described in the paper as the key East West link local communities have been
Campaigning for one for over a decade what work under this project will take place to improve safety for people walking wheeling and cycling along the a11 two3 thank you that’s a really powerful and important question um Road Safety is everyone’s business it is certainly something that the combined Authority takes very
Seriously that’s partly why we’ve put money into the budget for road safety measures and why we are getting much more involved in the vision zero initiative and one of the things we absolutely have to do is ensure that in all the projects that we undertake we are considering Road Safety as an
Absolute core of those projects because we have to be working in a joined up way on these things there’s a report coming in on the a141 later in the agenda so I’m sure that members will have further questions they wish to ask on this but so at the
Moment the A1 141 is at the technical evaluation stage so no specific decisions have been made on the provision for the A123 so we’re working at the moment with Partners to revalidate the original strategic outline business case because there have been a a range of changes to
Local and National policy that need to be taken into account it’s become incredibly apparent that further work is needed to assess the merits of both the kind of Passenger transport initiatives and further options to look at road-based intervention that bring together passenger transport and active travel so in addition to the three
Bypass Solutions adids are developing a strategic public transport solution and a hybrid solution so and in those active travel is going to form a fundamental and integral component part of the A123 is also included in the local walking and cycling infrastructure plan and road safety and active travel are high
Priorities in this scheme so we will absolutely be looking at this as we go through this project to ensure that we Monitor Road safety issues at all points through that um just to say I believe we also received one more question which was submitted late we won’t be um
Therefore able to answer that now but we will ensure that answers are supplied in due course so that ends the public questions section we are now moving on to item four which is the forward plan are there any questions or comments on the forward plan or can we take that as
Noted okay the for plan is taken as noted so we move on to item five which is the director’s highlights report Judith I think this is the first time you’ve given the report isn’t it so this is a very exciting moment um Judith Barker executive director for place and
Productivity will introduce the report Judith thank you very much chair and thank you for your welcome um it’s a pleasure to bring the director’s report and in the the the star with with which they’ve been previously delivered I’m going to cover some of the key issues
That don’t come up in other papers um and for for brevity as I’m I’m I’m sure all members have have read the papers I’m just going to draw out one or two points from the paper and indeed provide members with an update so you’ll be aware from the report that the authority
And particularly the acting assistant director for transport Tim Bellamy who’s who’s sat beside me has been particularly active um in recent weeks in advocating for um a number of really key issues which are Central to the local transport and connectivity plan and particularly advocating for those schemes with a view to securing future
Money and the prominence of those in in government plans you’ll also see that we’re planning working with active travel England to ensure that one of their um events is hosted in this area in July and indeed are bringing forward proposals for the transport Summit which was so successful last year um there is
A Clarity and an update to the paper there where that event is likely to be on the 7th of June rather than the 14th and amended uh diary invites will be going out about that so you’ll also see a number of um scheme updates um including the the green technology which
Uh in in peterb um but drawing on to a number of key issues one of the questions related to the the importance of monitoring and robust data and particularly bringing that forward to this committee that’s something that I know the chair and also myself are very personally committed to being able to do
Um and to ensure that we’re monitoring both the impact of connectivity in this area but also the um particular contribution that cpca is is doing and there is ongoing work to make sure that we can monitor that delivery of the ltcp through this meeting
On the A10 you will see that um I have noted that we’ll bring a verbal update and I am able to do that today so as you can see cpca H have been working with the county to revisit the governance for the A10 project noting that cpca are the
Sponsor and the funer as it is the cpca that has received the funds from the Department of Transport to prepare an out business case and then we contracted with um cambrid here County Council to undertake the work for the outline business case so we have in line with
That what we’re going to do is is cpca are going to set up an officer level project board and then bring a report on that project through this meeting to tick so the next stage will be to review from where we are now where we have where the county have produced working
With colleagues um here at cpca produced an outline business case in draft that has been validated against the updates that have been provided to DFT guidance on so on key metrics around sustainability and so on so that business case has been updated what we then need to do is bring that latest
Outline business case to tick and agree the engagement and consultation plans and timeline for that project so that will be coming to tick at the next opportunity obviously we are mindful that there is no current indication yet on the sum of money that is available from government for this scheme it
Remains the case that it was listed in the network net rail announcements in Autumn 2023 but we don’t have a sum of money yet and we’re also aware that we do need to test to the scoping of the project which currently doesn’t in include the Milton interchange but is
Clearly a key interface for this project onto the National Road Network and indeed into Cambridge City as well so um that hopefully provides members with an update on that there are a number of updates on rail schemes as well whis Beach the peterb station quarter which I’m very pleased to say the government
Approved the outline business case to move to a full business case for submission in the Autumn and we’re also working across border with um the rail partnership on the IP switch to Cambridge line and advocating very firmly on the um ele capacity enhancement East West rail remains clearly a absolutely gamechanging uh
Initiative across the whole of the Oxford to Cambridge um area and we are continuing to work with the East West rail company to ensure the maximum level of Engagement with partners and particularly the co-design of the next stages of that work we do understand that they’re currently intending to go
Out to consultation um in May I’ll just draw out that we have um updates on the a47 update report as well as an update on the cargo bid bike bids which unfortunately wasn’t successful and given the questions we have got updates on passenger numbers and we’ll certainly be looking to improve the quality
And Detail in those monitoring as I said earlier to ensure that open accountability for the progress on the local transport and connectivity plan and at that point chair I’ll hand back to you thank you and on behalf of the committee I would like to say how
Welcome it is to see those stats in here I think that’s really useful and I’m sure that we want to continue to see those as we move forward thank you to all the officers who have worked so hard to get those ready for us do we have any questions or
Comments Okay so we’ve got councelor Shayla counselor sharp counselor wakeford I’ll take those three for now um just to say if you’re down in this corner I can’t see your hands unless you put them right up because this is in the way so if I’m looking like I’m ignoring you you might
Just need to be a bit more visible um right councelor Shaya please thank you very much ch um I read in the report there’s a brief mention of the House of Commons transport East event I was um privileged to be at that event and it was very interesting to hear the um testim
Testimony from many across the region that really point to the same problems that we have in in the combined Authority area and that is no joined up transport thinking overall probably s with getting buses to train stations we have the um privatized bus model that that seems to feel that they are
Competing with trains and this is a problem across the entire region we have um obviously problems with so station with uh Whitty with various stations that do not have any bus connectivity so this is something that alone would um suggest that we should take more control
Of the buses by itself so and I know this is something that’s coming a bit later um one of the other um sections that was mentioned was the El area capacity enhancement now this has been well with some Fanfare announced over several years and I don’t see any
Time T table for it yet or money forthcoming and so I it’s it’s one of these no-brainers it has to happen the benefits to the region are massive and yet we haven’t seen the color of the money so I I very much applaud The combin Authority pushing on
That and I would love to see any any update whatsoever on whis beach rail um there’s a mention of a briefing for the Finland District Council in May it’s May could be a time of Elections so I I think it would be have to be uh careful
Just when that is but um I’m very interested to to hear any update at all on whis beach rail whiz Beach always feels like a part of the the county that is cut off and and um neglected as far as transport links are concerned and I
Know we are also working on bus links that come all the way down to man station and that is to be applauded of course um the other thing that I just wanted to briefly mention was the uh green Research Center in uh peterb and this seems to be going ahead and
Fantastic thank you very much thank you are you happy for me to keep going with the other two questions because I know there was a lot in that one um okay councelor sharp I think you were next oh is it working go Second Time Lucky um I’ve got three I’ll
Make one comment first um I wasn’t um I attended the long road um SE session with Nick Johnson last week and I found it very useful and it was certainly very refreshing to get the engagement from youngsters and and parents so um I’ll add that I’ve got two two questions
Really one is I I welcome the update on the A10 because obviously that’s a wear in an East Cambridge hat that’s quite a important um thoroughfare for people commuting down from from elely into Cambridge so and obviously I’m aware from the where County Council hat that
Works Ono with that the the main point I really wanted to mention was um it’s around um page 15 is the IP switch to Cambridge Community rail partnership um very keen to get obviously um as much improvement on that as we can’t we can Doling and is is within my district and
County divisions and obviously New Market is only three miles away so it is a the more we can improve that thorough Fair into Cambridge the less um strain it’s going to put on road traffic and and bus traffic um so I’ve got a meeting with um I work quite closely with the
Jockey Club and we’ve got a meeting with them in a couple of weeks about rail because obviously they run the race courses at New Market which again attracts a lots of people in a short space of time and they’ve got to bring them in and get
Them out and the more we can get used in the rail rather than the roads um it’s so much beneficial but you so so very interested to to to get as much information on on that second Point as possible thank you thank you and just because I’m aware a lot of people are
Following this on the chunked up version of this agenda that reference to the page number was also at 3.4 on this paper um councelor wake wford uh thank you chair um you may be able to detect a theme uh Judith on on rail as well um though uh more more
Briefly on this occasion I think there’s a pleasing uh list of rail projects in 3.4 lots of things that the command authorities working on um uh it’s a Shane Peter Wakefield from rail future um who asked the earlier question wasn’t here I’m I’m sure he’d be smiling too
Like me um however now that we’ve got a a bit of uh resource in the budget for looking at it um I wonder if going forward in these reports we might seek to include a per periodic reference to the work uh looking at the alanb station proposal which we in hunting dunshire
Are really Keen to the movement and I’m not expecting you to be able to comment off the cuff on that um tonight uh tonight this morning um which yeah it’s been that sort of a week um but uh certainly going forward um even even even brief reference as its
Earlier stage to to much of what’s in here would be most welcome you I know this is a packed agenda but my goodness we’ve been here a long time already um we’ll take those three I can see councelor Elie would like to make point is though anyone else
Wants to start bidding in for the next round of questions at this point okay we’ll start with those he picking these up so just in relation to the Eda capacity um in the meeting uh in uh Al of common um there was a number of MPS
There um and N made the point to the MPS that actually they still haven’t seen the the amount the money related to that um and also the time frames around it so actually um net was saying they cannot start their work until they’ve actually got the confirmation from Department of
Transport administers so that being pressed on the other thing on the actual on the uh the conference I went to and presented on the El a capacity um it wasn’t just around the um traditional people that you expect to be supportive you also the the freight the um Road
Holers were actually supportive of the actual um El air capacity as well and they were going to right to ministers as well so um hopefully there’ll be that lobbying and champing will help on that process on whbe rail um the timing to um in May it it’s about pitching that so
Make sure that we’ve inform we got um information uh from the support but also allow for um informed discussion to then come to um to flavor the discussion here at Tech in June actually that timing we we are working with v dist Council um officers and members to get that in in a
Timely manner um on the it to Cambridge Community rail partnership so we’ve made a financial contribution to the for next year um to the to the parship and we will be part of the project board going forward which will be chaired by greater Anglia but we will be a technical
Perspective combin Authority will be on that and then on alom station um it’s part of a package you’ll see in one of the papers l in later on that it is one of the works do to look at Aly station but actually it’s not just a station it’s also about how we
Make Aly we work as a as a um development site Etc as well but um part of the work we’re looking to progress next year will’ll be looking at ROM station thank you and um I suspect that we would like to really place on record as a whole
Committee our plea for some real commitments to be made on the funding for some of these strategic projects you know there have been comments in the Press about money being set aside for something like elely but we’ve not seen that commitment of this is the amount of
Money it’s going to cost and this is what you are getting so that people can actually start the work and clearly this is something that benefits our whole region and indeed arguably the whole UK so we need to get things like this right so yes let’s make sure we get this on
Record that as a committee we are very keen to see some of this funding that’s been promised actually materializing with some figures attached councelor Elie thank you can you can you hear me yeah um okay so obviously I’m pleased that the uh Green Technology Centers is
Is going on a pace in petor and obviously that um the station quarters moved to the next phase which is fantastic news two requests really one is whilst we’re looking at um reviewing um rail Services I mentioned in a meeting a couple of months ago that the connectivity between Northampton sh and
Petersbur is rubbish and um given places like like Corby and and ketering that are now huge uh employment centers it’s really important that that people have the ability to be able to commute between those those towns and Peterborough as as kind of the flagship City especially given our geographic
Location um as the kind of the gateway to the east the South the North and the West um so so my request is that we don’t lose sight of that and that we continue to push to explore what the art of the possible is for ction from Northampton Sher into petersboro is the
First thing and the second thing is obviously I’m I’m acutely aware of how important the A10 is but equally the flyover at wittering is equally important on the A1 for peterb um it’s it’s a major accident black spot for the combined Authority area um I’m aware that Peter city council
Are having meetings over the next over the next few weeks with Highway England to to try and further this but I asked and and I was assured that the cpca would be supportive of this and I’m not convinced that there’s a join up at this moment in time between the two
Organizations so can I please plea that with with the uh the the the heavy hand that the cpca has over transport projects in the area that they that they lend their support to peterb city council to to to get this fly over put in place thank you thank you are there any other
Questions at this point councelor Shayla nice and brief because you’ve already had a big chunk of question here thank you very much chair for letting me come back um I just wanted to um add my comments about the E cargo bike we had a a scheme on the the county as well it
Was very very well received so if we could do anything at all to U it was very disappointed that we missed out on that one um the other one I just want to very briefly draw attention to is in 3.5 the a47 um the scheme often these um large
Jeweling schemes are seen as a way of reducing congestion and reducing CO2 but there was a a very good study that showed that it actually increases the amount of CO2 uh vehicles moving at higher speed produce more CO2 that’s even before we um bring more traffic
Into the area due to the fact that we’ve got you know a way now there may be good economic reasons for dueling there may be you know other social reasons for jeweling but I think the um argument using CO2 has well and truly been squashed at this point thank
You Tim uh so on the connectivity between uh Northampton and petur uh so the subn sample body so England heart have done a study that looks at the connectivity between uh Peter Northampton Corby but also into Rockford um and the outputs from that are informing an investment Brer that been
Um progress at Heartland with our input U making sure that we’ve got all the things that we want in in in that brocher and those brers will be used to Lobby uh Champion government around funding opportunity for that Corridor so uh we we recognize the connectivity isn’t great we working with part about
How we look at that um on the A1 Corridor so we we we would like to be part of those discussions with national highways um part of the Improvement Corridor again linking with Eng Heartland is looking at the the north south connectivity on the A1 so looking at the length within the combined
Authority so that will be safety issues at wittering but also the the buck round about and also further down so that whole Corridor need to be looked at and at the at the with regard the V safety element but also some of the movement as well so we are championing the
Improvement on that with Heartland but if there’s any those meetings and you want us to be involved in those at a technical level I’m more than happy to to um feel someone in those discussions and then on the a47 um with the study and the with regard to the alliance I
Think that um we have a commitment in the ltcp to look at improvements the corridor um and we need to be convinced by the argument around what is the best for that Corridor the with regards the E movement um and that need to be a balance between um the economy the
Social Improvement but also the environment um commitment as well so we need to understand what he’s best along that Corridor and ultimately what the exam question we trying to answer thank you and you know Tim and I have both visited wiing we’ve seen that Junction it’s shocking and if there’s
Anything that I can do as a politician as lead member to come in and lend my political weight to what’s happening I’m also very happy to do so because I think we all we all want to ensure that that is a safer Junction it’s just very very
Concerning at the moment thank you Anna that’s really helpful could Tim could I just ask that you speak to speak with Lewis because I’m not sure when these meetings are happening but I’ve got a brief in not for him to say that they’re happening over the next couple of weeks
So for wared is for armed if you can get in there then that would be really helpful okay any other questions on that item thank you we’ve had I think a very useful and helpful disc discussion on this it has ranged into some of the issues that will come up in in items
Later on the agenda so I would ask members to take points they’ve made already as noted and not to repeat them again on the agenda items as we come up because we are at 10 to 11 already and we don’t want to get to a point where we
Don’t have time to properly discuss some of the items later in the agenda I would also from that point of view ask officers to ensure that as you did brilliantly last time key highlights that we really need to know about each of the reports as you present them and
Assume please that we have read the reports because we should have read the reports we will have read the report so you don’t need to read us through those with that in mind um we are on to item six which is the East scooter trial update and I think Anna Graham transport
Program manager will introduce that next item is is Anna here oh there you are you’re already moved brilliant thank you Anna over to you thank you good morning um the paper seeks approval for the extension of the escuta trial for a further two years and an approval in
Principle for a proposed boundary change to the trial area is um to enable us to submit that to the department for transport for consideration and approval the department for transport are asking for trial areas to extend to the 31st of May 2026 uh this enables DFT to build on
Current um learning across areas including usage safety and environmental impacts and to explore changing travel patterns since the corona vir Corona virus pandemic as escooter has become more embedded in public life since the start of the trial a total of three million trips have been taken using aoy
Ecooter or ebike uh replacing 980,000 car trips and reducing CO2 emissions by 469 tons the trial continues to demonstrate that es scooters are providing an alternative for travel that continues to to grow the DFT uh later provided a further update to trial areas offering the opportunity to request
Changes to the geography and or Fleet size for the ecooter trial with a focus of new strategic objectives the paper outlines um the areas being considered for extension which focuses on capturing commuting movements and including new housing developments thank you thank you Anna any questions or comments on this item
Please sharp and do we have anyone else councelor shayer we’ll start with you both councelor shop um thank you chair um don’t want to be the dampener on this but um um I pres question through Anna through presumbly this trial is for the um for voy carrying on as the offer of the
Um um supplier of those um excuse me es scooters to um members of the public my issue really is is obviously around we’ve got so many un what unlicensed where where people have bought them and and technically they’re illegal around on the roads and it’s the safety issue
And also and I imagine you can’t answer the question what are DFT doing in terms of obviously trying to regulate the um the use of them going forward I’m more worried about the safety issue I’m not against these scoter think they’re great it’s just how we I don’t think DFT
Really have come up with a an answer or anything in terms of how we’re going to regulate the safety issue going forward that’s point Thank you thank you and councelor shayer thank you very much chair I was going to mention much the same thing about the illegal ones um I have a
Question the area being enlarged is about the possibility of um putting scooters in this area not necessarily putting them in immediately but for future expansion um when will be the next chance to expand further for instance to other Market towns and things and the other question I have is
Regarding infrastructure I I suspect at some point we’re going to need separate areas for cars E Scooters um walking and cycling and things you know so it would be good to um get ahead of it and think about where we want to be in 10 years time or whatever so it’
Be interesting to uh see any thinking on infrastructure trains changes thank you very much thank you and Anna you I know you want to talk about the safety issues with the void trial I think it is worth reminding ourselves that this is a trial of the license Ed higher scooters and
The combined Authority does not have authority over the private scooters so this is very much around the private trial and I know that sorry the um licensed trial and I know that committee members absolutely have a concern about the unlicensed vehicles that isn’t something that is within our remit apart
From to say that we understand that there is a concern and we all share that concern but Anna over to you please thank you um DFT intend to introduce legislation around um not only the hiring of E Scooters but just es scooters in general um that is not sort
Of going on the program for this parlamentary sort of period but they are looking at U regulations for the um private e scooter and actually taking the learning from The Trial around the type of vehicle like so for example the size of the wheels the capping of the
Speed limits those sorts of things and seeing that those are potentially then introduced as regulation for sort of all E Scooters the time scales for that I’m I’m not um sort of ab breasted upon um however we do as the trial area we do um
Sort of check in with the police um and I’m aware that the police have uh run operation in October and November um as like an education of um private E Scooters and those that use private E Scooters about where and when they they can be used thank you have you councelor
Shaya’s point as well sorry yes um so further expansion um this is an opportunity that DFT have provided us um right now to proportionately expand um so that’s what we’ve tried to to look at um but we are looking at a micromobility strategy um as part the combined authority to look
At developing how we perhaps then expand potentially in the future um and perhaps look at things around sort of actually how do we want these scooter parking to kind of coexist with um sort of bicycle parking and all those sorts of things as well so um there is micromobility um
Strategy that’s in waiting in the wings and I believe actually in one of the papers today we’re looking drawing down funding for for those strategies thank you are there any more question on this councilor wford counc thank you councelor uh councelor Shaya picked up um just of my
Question around interest in in options for other trials just to mention certainly in hunting L we’re looking forward to being able to have a conversation around um a couple of locations that might have a particular interest for that as well when we when we get to it but um certainly I’m happy
To support uh the extension in the paper for now and clearly the logic of expanding in the areas where it currently is for the time being as part of this pilot makes the most sense car McDonald thank just briefly so in terms of the preparation for this
That um it it does mention in the report so 20 20 officers members from South cams believe gave feedback or or views and were broadly supportive of of the extension and some of that’s reflected in the in the maps um of course having um a fairly closely monitored and uh
Effective uh Service uh will hopefully avoid too many of the unauthorized uses and I have some some sympathy for the police who’ve got enough things to do than worry about um personal es scooters so um uh it is mentioned by the police in the report on potential issues on
Major a roads um I’ve seen relatively little of that most of it is around uh The Villages and uh B roads and in the city um so so long as that continues I think that’s a good thing thank you councilor Shan thank you chair um it’s a comment really and it’s it’s
About the outcomes and the reduced congestion on major roads and the measurable improvements in connectivity for Left Behind areas um and I’m just thinking should the incinerator unfortunately be built there is going to be a terrific increase in the amount of heavy haage uh traffic uh on an area
Which is already left behind so I just wanted to make that comment that uh that is something that really we need to be aware of thank you chair anyone else at this stage very brief all right very brief yeah my question relates to the the list of um places where people
Wanted to bring the the um scooters and one of them was the guided busway and currently this is for active transport and and I understand that the voice scooters are meant to stay on the carriageway so this would be kind of a change in policy but I know they go
Places where cars can’t but then their their speed is is reduced um and so there are particular regulations I wonder if there’s any comments people could make on that whether it’s possible to get them on of the guided by way or not and that that means that you know the path alongside the
Guid thank you and something else that I wanted to mention as C City rep is I think it’s incumbent on all of us as a as transport and infrastructure committee members to take on some responsibility for ensuring that we’re going back to are member councils and we
Don’t have parishes but there would be obviously that same thing with with Parish councils in the areas that do um so what I will be doing is making sure that I talk to local counselors to ensure that we’ve got really good upto-date information that they’re picking up about where the go slow zones
Or the no ride zones could be happening as well because I think that facility is there and it’s really important people know it’s there and it’s really important that we are gathering all the information we can and obviously local counselors are often the people that get that
Anna um just regarding the use of the busway part of the busway is already uh used um for E Scooters so there is a traffic regulation order that enables E Scooters to use cycle ways and busways so um that that’s how we’re able to use them and so it’s not necessarily A
Change it’s just perhaps extending potentially further up the busway um from its current um boundary thank you thank you has everyone had their questions covered off there right okay are there any more questions or comments on this item if not I’d like us to progress on to the
Next one and thank Anna for all the work that’s happened here for you and your team have done a lot on this so we have votes on this so we have I believe two recommendations which are a simple um majority of voting voting members um we have a
Recommendation to the board to approve the extension of the ecut trial to 31st of May 2026 and we are seeking approval in principle to submit to the department for transport a propos boundary change to the existing trial area um I will propose that do I have a seconder please Council McDonald
We will now move to the vote all those in favor I think that’s unanimous thank you so would the governance officer report the outcome of that vote he so that’s a unanimous vote thank you right we now go on to item seven ltcp and Associated strategies um we’ve got a lot to cover
In the next hour and some people have got hard stops so I don’t want to in any way catel debate but can we all be mindful of that please Emma um the paper sets out an update on the local transport and connectivity plan and Associated strategies and work streams that are to
Follow over the next three Financial years the proposed strategies and work streams are detailed in table two of the report and all the work align with the ltcp objectives table three in the report also shows the proposed program over the next three years all stakeholders will proactively be engaged
In all of the strategy development all of this work is intrinsically linked and will be worked on in parallel making sure the most is gained while maintaining the strong links with the LP’s Vision aims and objectives also please note in terms of the electric vehicle infrastructure strategy it was
Planned to bring the final committee back the final draft back to this committee for approval following engagement on the document has been decided to update it further following more detailed work by the highways Authorities on the business case for the Levi fund the update updated strategy will be shared in advance and brought
Back to the June committee thank you thank you Emma and I didn’t introduce you at the beginning so Emma White is acting transport and policy manager thank you Emma for your work on this are there any questions or comments on this report yes yes anyone else at
This okay we have both our members of The Business board would like to ask some questions and then we have car McDonald and I think that’s probably enough for the first stage so be able to first I just hope I’m not going ask back this question before she does but um one
Is it’s great that you’ve got them prioritize something like prioritization when you got a big big program to deliver I don’t see anything on digital connectivity within the program and we always think about connectivity that your question about connectivity is more than just transport so at least a
Comment on digital connectivity and then as past the second one showing my naivity bit is Will these sub strategies come back to this committee for review or they just going to kind of like go off into the distance on their own now Rebecca you still have the floor is
There anything you want to add um Andy has completely stolen my thunder um yes I was going to talk about digital connectivity and just a bit of a plea really that the the people tend to think about connectivity in terms of transport and actually digital connectivity is one
Of the biggest improvements that we can make to get cars and and traffic off the roads um and it should run through all of these strategies like a bit of a golden thread because there is something that could be down on all of them uh something that digital connectivity can
Improve um even if that’s through the communications or the app that was that was referenced so um absolutely I agree with with what Andy said Thank you and from my point of view I think you’re absolutely right to emphasize that we talk a lot about what can be done on roads to sort
Out some of the issues we face but that digital connectivity becomes a real F you know so important in helping us deal with that so thank you and I didn’t note down who it was Council mcdonal wasn’t it briefly three points uh one was that um I’d like to understand um not not
Here and now but going forward uh on the mobility travel hubs I know there’s planned to be a trial uh in uh Ramsey I think it is in the Ramy area um so it’s just understanding a little bit more um uh Alan and I and Neil Who members of
The highways committee had quite some discussion on soil affected roads because this is a big issue in the east of course it’s not an issue for our part of the world it’s really good to see this in here um because you know if residents at all feel unsafe or that
That accessibility is is hindered um that that’s a major issue so I think that’s really good uh to see in here uh and the last thing is just um ltcp the connectivity going back to Neil’s comment before the Bus and Rail connectivity I think is essential thank you thank you and
Rebecca I missed that you wanted to come back in so over to you again I was just to point out that our digital strategy will need to be refreshed in the course of this time scale so maybe it’s worth adding in as only R thank you so I think Judith you’re
Going to pick up a couple of these and then we’ll pass on to Emma that way around yep thank you for raising the point about digital connectivity um and obviously one of the things I’m doing as as coming coming in as as the new director is just looking at all of the
Key areas within the local transport and connectivity plan and thinking about how we draw out some of those particular issues as you say the cross cutting themes um so firstly we’ve already arranged with connecting Cambridge here to make sure that there we have have a presentation I believe we’re looking at
The September tick on the digital connectivity strategy that that they have presenting here and then talking about the review process for that because that is a 21 to 25 window on that document and that will allow to a review and also a look forward but I
Think you make a really good point about the importance of it being a crosscutting area of all the work that the whole transport team both within buses public transport and The Wider piece consider so thank you for raising that um I was also just going to confirm
That in terms of the sub strategies absolutely they will come to tick as they’re prepared and work through so there will be opportunity to comment and at that point I’ll hand over to Emma hi and to add to that for them to be approved as a child document for ltcp
They need to go through the committee process so yeah all the documents will come back um in terms of um your comments about each of the strategies um following this approval we can sort of get going and move everything forward start scoping out all the work we’ve got
Members of the team allocated for each of the projects and engagement with all stakeholders in the scoping process and going forwards on the mobility hubs the soil affected roads and the Bus and Rail um will happen that pick up all the questions thank you now I’ve got councelor Elie is there anyone else
That wishes to speak at this point L coun sharp anyone else Council Elie thank you chair obviously um when we’re looking at the um the active travel and strategy implementation plan I know that um the team at petsburgh Keen to be leading on the the plan for
Petsburgh um I have uh now signed off the LC whip for pet so that that is going through the the Democratic process as we speak but the thing that concerns me with with the LC I’ve also set up a um a cabinet members um working group
Which is cross party to look at um active travel and sustainable travel uh in its entirety because the thing that concerns me is that that we look at what’s here now and we look at the architecture of a city as it is now and look to try and bend active travel
Around it rather than saying what is the art of the possible and you know when you look at a city like petur which isn’t that dis dissimilar to to Cambridge in a lot of respect in that there’s a bloody Great River going through the middle of it and so on and
So forth you know if we’re looking at sustainable active travel we should be looking at Riverboat taxes we we should you know we’ve got four um disused railway lines that run into the center of Peterburg from the surrounding areas that already have the the Pathways in
And it’s not Beyond on the wit of men for them to change the gauge on that so that it could become light Railway or tram um so it I don’t want to be continually sticking a plaster over a gaping wound what I want to do is if
We’re looking at active travel and we’re looking at ways to to improve um travel across the board then we we need to look at it with with a blank piece of paper and not say oh well because there’s a building there we can’t do that well if
That building is is the reason that holistic strategy can’t be implemented remove the building you know so so it’s a I’m really pleased with what we’re doing but I just want a greater emphasis on looking at it holistically and not just focusing on um um Walkers and cyclists because they’re not the only
Two groups and it’s not the only two sustainable ways that we can move people about our cities thank you thank you I think Council sharp you wanted to raise something yeah I’ll be very brief chair um just two points one touching on Council McDonald’s point about so affected roads
Yeah obviously covers East Cambridge as well as fenland and H vire and look forward to the update upon that the other point is really again around Vision zero and Road harm um certainly within my division we’ve got lots of long straight roads where we you know
People drive too fast and it’s hell so again would welcome a report thought on how we’re looking at allocating that million pounds or how it’s going to be spent because it’s a I think it’s a very big issue personally for road safety around around the around the county thank you Council
Sher thank you very much CH I’ll be brief I’ve I’ve already mentioned quite a lot on connectivity but this holistic across modes hubs that sort of thing we need to keep going and I was quite interested to see the uh mention of trackless trams and
Pods and I’d love to see this kind of um trial across um the area thank you very much I think Tim would like to talk about driver list pods a few few things they question so um on the Peter um element I think we’ve got um a number of
The the strategies that outline in here will actually help with that so you’ve got the Peter City Center which is technically the new vision for petera transport elements so I think that that’s a key part and working with your officers to to progress that I think key
But also the other part on that is around the research and development piece is actually thinking outside the box so linking back to what council jaylor just said those Innovative things such as automa pods D tra back tra those sort of things actually take rather than
Doing what is now what what what can we Reon for 10 15 years time but actually start to look at that so I think some of the work we’ve got in in train will actually help to help to progress both through the p it and also um from what
Councel Shay was saying um and then also in the ltcp there is the toolbox of measures so it’s not just about it’s a framework so so saying that what we Implement in peterb will be obviously different to what we necessarily do in hunting insur Etc so it’s understanding
That the ltcp provides a framework with which we then cherry pick what better for to our locations and then very quickly um just on the mobility hubs and um was around so we’ve done some work with hunon District Council on that looking at one for Ramsey but actually
Mobility hubs will be different for different locations so actually the free trials be the free trials we need to learn from what we’re doing in Ramsey but actually what we put what we may Implement in Ramsey might not necessarily be will work in whether we doing South cams or in each cam or
Wherever that is so therefore we need to understand what is it we’re trying what the exam question we’re trying to solve by by actually implementing some of the these measures thank you Emma is there anything you want to add for any of those does everyone feel they’ve had their questions covered
Off great I’m going to keep us moving forward thank you very much and thank you for that really detailed and useful report and it’s fantastic to see the Practical work on the ltcp moving forward as well so we have some votes on this sorry I haven’t forgotten uh we have three
Recommendations I’ll take them on block if that’s okay recommendation a which is to note there is clearly no vote required recommendations B and C which are about approving the re rofile of the funding and delegating Authority um of spend um and grant funding Arrangements they require a vote by consensus otherwise a
Vote in favor by at least two-thirds of the member present including cambri County Council and peterb members um so I will propose recommendations B and C if we’re happy to take them together are there any objections to that who would like to second okay councelor Elsie I think you got in
There first um so I will propose councelor Elsie will second can I see those in favor please of recommendations B and C thank you that’s unanimous thank you very much we are now moving on to item eight item eight is the transforming cities fund and we are joined online
Online by Matthew Lutz who is transport program manager and we present the report Matthew uh thank you ch can all hear me and apologies that I can’t be there in person uh the purpose of this paper is to provide an update in relation to the transforming CES fund
Also known as the CCF andree additional works that will be undertaken to utilize project and fense the paper is to note the positive delivery of work to date and approval of the way forward on additional works that fit within existing projects and scope by utilizing department for transport and
The combined Authority TC funding was alloc in this region to improve the quality of life for those within the H of cambrid and P and the fund is not districted to the cities but must be spent within the boundaries of the combined Authority an appendix to the paper outlines the high level of
Confidence that central government has in the combined authori ability to deliver the entirety of the TCF program in a timely and effective manner within the letter DFT depart transport state that funding will and we will continue to work with you in the coming months the seemes pass
Through the process in order to confirm future payments this there thereby allows for the program to be delivered in Department of Transport recognized that due to legitimate reasons some TCF projects are program extensions in place and through the cour of meetings and other discussions DFS agreed that these
Fit within their time scales and that we can continue to deliver these work using CCF monies it is worth noting that DFT has a right to call back any monies where the combined author not spend the funds allocated with this in mind the combined authorities continue had an open and honest transparent dialogue
With d around budgets and spend as it became clear that there will be an UND spend in some projects we looked at potential additional works that we could use TF money for within the project scope as agreed with Department of Transport we have kept additional work within these exting projects and within
The scope and the line to CCF objectives thank you thank you Matthew that’s really helpful are there any questions or comments on this item councelor Shayla anyone else councelor sharp take you both to start with let me know if you also want to say anything councelor shayer thank you very much chair firstly
It’s great to see the flexibility and the time scale and the use of this this money that’s very very helpful uh I’ve got a point that’s probably a bit pedantic but on page 45 in 3.2 the aims um I think bullet point number one and four are exactly the same in this um
That might be just a typo that does look correct yes we’re all nodding up here councelor Shar thank you chair I think he’s just reinforcing the point Neil um yes my my question is around um and this is something and and Council Shader and McDonald be aware of this it
Comes up quite regularly at County Council transport committee is the w whis beach access strategy um certainly one of my colleagues in the F and I think um and again County colleagues might be able to stop me if I’m wrong but I think from a County Council point
Of view they’ve taken that as far as they can and it’s really looking for the funding for the next stage so so really I’m looking I know it’s not it’s not included in the short list that um is being suggested I just um wonder what the the short or
Long-term outcomes on that is can we expect thank you okay who’s picking those up Tim do you want to stop so so just on on on both of those point so the first point with regards Council Shayla um around the flexibility of the of the funding um
Just to reinforce this this um committee was there was a real very real possibility at one point in the last 18 to 24 month ago that actually the the ttf program was um was needed to be reset and actually that what we did as a committee um and then through the leas
On with DFT we’ve built the confidence to actually to say that say this is where the program is um and actually some of those flippes they’ve allowed to allowed us to because they know the confidence that we can deliver um thus it’s not to say that every every
Authority who’s got CTF money has kept their CTF money so we we are in a positive position actually we have maintained our 95 million pound so I think it is a really positive thing that we got that flexibility um and then in relation to the uh whsp access Dusty so
Part of the um Dusty um part of that thaty was funded by the TCF so this is it has been funded so taken it as far as it got to what we need to do now is to understand what funding opportunities there may be to take things forward so
That’s working both with with with uh the County Council but also um external funding partners and that LE to see how we can then accelerate or even um Implement some f some further parts of the with so just to confirm that has been funded but it’s gone as far as it can now
Within the TCF framework so now we need to look at what the next stage is have I got that right thank you um are there any other questions or Matthew is anything you wanted to add on that uh no nothing for me other than we do have to keep obviously uh any
Unsuspend important that we you keep that in mind we view potential send thank you we’re slightly losing a few of your words but I think we got the key point about that about keeping watching on understand and ensuring that everything still becomes all the money’s in play and I’m sure that we’re all
Equally grateful for the diligence of officers in ensuring that we do keep all of this funding in play councelor wakeford thank you I think the appendix is particularly helpful in terms of um the setting out the spend the resend of the underspend which um as Tim mentioned it’s clearly enormously welcome that
We’ve been able to retain and been able to demonstrate um value in in in allowing national government to let us retain them unlike some years elsewhere um the section one uh outlining St I’s local Improvement fund spend is is of um value and interest to us at locally in
Hunts um I’m conscious there some rag ratings that aren’t um uh unpacked most of which are green but some are Amber so um offline we might um follow up just to make sure we we’ve understood what the what the Amber is a is a reference to thank
You thank you and whilst we are on the subject of funding I thought it might just be worth um celebrating the broader successes of our team because I think it’s 167 million pounds of Transport Funding that has been secured by the cpca over the last two years and that’s
A really impressive achievement and so many people in this room and also virtually have contributed to that so thank you are there any other questions or comments on that is that a little is that a hand you’re leaning forward there Neil is that sorry chair I don’t know if I have
Time I don’t want to but um I was just going to mention the a141 um work and and it’s given that there is that extra money the underspend that can be put back into the the study that’s fantastic the the original study was very very Road centered and I think
The way it’s going now is a much more multimodal um support for the region and I think that’s a fantastic um Advance thank you thanks and we’ll hold that and roll that into item nine I think that will be really helpful um so there’s quite a lot of recommendations here um
Recommendation a and ear to note but we have three others is everybody be happy for us to roll those together okay I will propose these are who who do I have as a seconder for this councelor shayer you got in first this time um so I am proposing on councelor
Shayer is seconding can I see those in favor of the recommendations please that’s unanimous thank you very much so now we move on to item nine this is the a141 update on Pro progress and engagement and Matthew this is also yourself I do hope you can hear me if
Not you know please ask for clarification uh this paper provides an update from the combined Authority and cire camps Council on the progress date in relations to the a 141 in St ARS Improvement study cire camps council is responsible delivering the scheme up to the production of an outlin business
Case and the combined authorities to project sponsor and final scheme decisions are made through this committee this paper provides an update on the progress of the a141 work State and met steps to follow on in terms of strategic work and stakeholder engagement as a reminder the study
Focuses on the a141 St IES and conss the upgrading the transport Network on the a141 corridor and around Huntington and St IES through this Improvement scheme we aim to support local and longdistance travel and thein with the local transport and con connectivity plan and the Huntington sh District Council of
Local plan since the previous project stage was complet there have been some key policy changes at local Regional and National level such as a greater focus on decarbonization and climate change risks the future option packages need to reflect these changes to demonstrate the shift towards sustainable growth
Including in the transport sector as a result as a result the outline business case started by revisiting the work done on the Strategic business case stage assessing assumptions and refining the options in the context of sustainable and active travel considerations the Consultants working on the project are plan to present the technical analysis
And Reporting outcomes from this work to Future internal project board probably in March or April 2024 an update on this will be brought to the committee for consideration of options and the timeline of next steps in the meantime a member working group has been established and the full briefing to HDC
Members has been set up for later in March then invite will be extended to all members of this committee as well we are return to the transforming for stru committee do holder leading up to an including consultation which should take place later in 2024 thank you thank you and before I throw that
Open I’ve just had a message through from somebody who is watching on the live stream to say that when we’ve got someone coming in on the web access it’s a bit Buzzy and echoey on the live stream I don’t if there’s anything that we’re able to do about that but I’m just
Alerting you to that um um I have done a check and I can’t see anyone with microphones on so we’ve not got feedback um okay questions and comments on this one please I can see councelor wakeford getting in there quick anyone else at this point will’ll start with you
Councelor wakeford let me know if you have anything you want to ask uh thank you um sorry to be predictable chair um I’m conscious uh the one for one and related um St IV’s Works have been uh under discussion I think here since certainly before my time on the committee since about 2018
And we in hunting D have been Keen to see progress on it um and we’ve also been urging for an update here to tick specifically for for a little while so I’m certainly grateful uh for this um paper which I think is helpful it articulates how important the a141 anent
IES transport corridors are to Huntington Shire and especially how it connects up uh our communities across rural areas the challenges in paragraph 3.4 uh will be familiar to many of our residents and of course the passage of time while those have been ongoing or getting worse uh is obviously a uh
Frustration um but it’s certainly welcome that we’re pulling the public transport and active travel elements more fully into the uh Project work as councelor shayer um touched on in the previous item at the same time as revisiting it all in light of the updated National policy context which I think the chair
Referenced um uh in answer to a question earlier as well um the references in the report to refreshing governance and Communications are helpful we look forward to learning the conclusions uh of that in terms of the the process being followed um the paper mentions as as Matthew touched on
As well in presentation that final decisions will be made by this committee which is helpful for stakeholders to be clear about the final sentence me of 3.9 mentions again as I think M alluded to that the technical analysis and Reporting outcomes from the ongoing work um need to be brought to tick for
Consideration uh of the options with a timeline of next steps I’d be really Keen to know if not necessarily um immediately now uh when tick can uh realistically expect to be able to to see that both for the decision and for clarity around the expected um time
Scales um I wonder if to support our uh engagement with that as a committee it might be helpful to hold a more detailed session for interested tick members um offline outside the regular meeting shedu as well to to ensure people are up to speed finally if you forgive me chair
Just as a as a more technical question as well um I wonder whether the team have found any way of taking into account the planned bus improvements outlined elsewhere later in our agenda into the work on the outline business case there’s a bit of a sort of chicken
And egg uh challenge there but um uh modeling in the improvements we intend to happen as well as the uh status quo at the moment um may give a more useful analysis and Baseline for the options going forward thank you for indulging me chair thank you a very similar theme
Coming through there to councilor El’s point in the previous debate around making sure that we’re bringing in the future potential as well as the current situation who’s going to answer those is that Matthew an issues with connectivity so I’m happy to yeah uh yeah I’m more than
Happy to so with regards the issues around government and also uh decision making and and and taking that thing forward in the next steps we’re happy to come back to you C to wait for on what what that process is what timeline is ETC and and make sure that we’re all
Making um that align to work that you may be doing at the local level they we’re happy to have those good offline and then regard the uh bus Improvement element so they will form a key part going forward but at the moment we need to go through the revalid revalidation
Of the S SOC to start with make sure we cover that off and then any emerging Technical Solutions uh will an improvement then can be built into the next St so actually we need to make sure to get the S SOC bit right and and configured and revalidated and then the
Other can come forward thank you does that cover off everything it does extremely helpful thank you chair thank you are there any other comments on this one councelor shayer anyone else councelor shayer thank you very much chair just wanted to very briefly mention the working group which
I chair from the um County and there was a lot of interest in the first meeting and uh we’re very open to adding further members to that if there is um a need thank you very much thank you I suspect you may have a volunteer um anything else if not this
Item is to note I want to thank Matthew for for being able to come in to present to us and um for all the work that has gone into this there’s a lot of detailed background work happens here so thank you so no vote required on this one
We’re now moving on to that’s the last um there is no that is the last voting item um but we have some extremely important updates to receive now so we’re on to item we have item 10 which is is the bus Network update and item 11 which is the bus reform update would
Like if we can to take those separately to ensure that we do cover things off um so focusing first on the bus network issues and then we can do the bus reform piece I think who have we got coming up to Andrew is gonna speaking from here
Okay so I think Andrew you’re going to speak on the bus Network update first thank you chair thank you all for your time this morning uh the paper submitted gives an overview of the work that has progressed on a number of delivery focused projects for the bus Network since the approval for
Investments linked to the precept and budget in January’s combined Authority board officers have worked at PACE over the past five weeks to set up support for analysis and development of the projects to have as fast but robust a design phase as possible engagement has taken place with constituent councils as part of this
Process the PID PR lines of various methodologies and components to the work that have been applied for the one pound bus fair for under 25s in the region the investment into improved bus services utilizing the meril precept and the targeted Improvement of bus stops and shelters it also summarizes Network
Changes that are being implemented by stage coach work is ongoing to bring this together into an integrated delivery program with an onus on a clear monitoring and evaluation plan for all of the projects to evaluate success at the time of publication for this report work was ongoing into the analysis of
The investment into bus services attached in the appendix of the combined Authority board report for the same topic which was published yesterday is a table that I will talk through on screen as it is shared shortly I appreciate this is a lot of information interpret live so I’ll talk through the mechanics
Of the table rather than all of the specifics as that’s just being shared and hopefully will pop up on screen the table we’ve produced is a high level metric table that demonstrates each service improvement just hold off while it comes up hopefully so the table is a high level metrics
Table that demonstrates each service improvement the main points served the type of service which may influence the rout to Market an estimate of the population catchment and trip catchment and some operational characteristics on Journey length and frequency it should be noted this is still in draft and in
The design phase and further more detailed rout outlines will be published in due course sitting behind this metrics table of plans on a page of which there’s an example in the paper and Associated root Maps which have been drafted and are being refined in order to move through to implementation as
Quickly as possible in terms of clear next steps the projects are working through to delivery and the intention is to deliver the one pound Fair scheme in May June 2024 and the bus service Investments over the summer of 2024 thank you for your time and just to say that this is part I
Believe of what’s been put up with the board papers so you’re not being expected to read all this online grab it and then that’s it and you if you go online and look at the board papers you will see that there um questions comments debate please uh lots of hands
So I think we went in the order of councelor McDonald and then councelor Satan and then councelor Elie and then we’ve got councelor Shaya and then we’ve got councelor sharp um right we’ll start we’ll try three we’ll see what level of your questions are if they’re not so
Detailed we might get five otherwise we’ll stop do some answers and come back on the second round councelor McDonald thank thanks chair I mean I’m happy uh I’m making comments and observations uh I want to make four of them I’m very happy if the officers want to come back
Subsequently so that other councilors have time to speak uh first of all number nine service so I know note the comments in the report and the rendering process that Andrew and the officer team is going through um I’ve received representation from uh councelor Kane in um East cams and
Councel bradam in South Cambridge here this is a very important route I I think Andrew and the officer team know that so uh because of the connectivity between um littleport elely and Cambridge so it it does make mention to this so please be mindful in the rendering that we can
Optimize that as much as possible Willingham and Six Mile bottom Willingham is mentioned in in the work that’s been done and thanks again to the offices for that six m bottom is rather overlooked um I don’t know if well I don’t think it’s deliberate but I don’t
Know if we’re sort of um looking at other things we’ve just slightly overlooked six miles bottom it seems to be a sort of Bermuda Triangle of little active travel or or public uh public transport there thirdly uh cotum um because of devel development that’s happened in recent years and ongoing
Development cottenham the eight service is really important especially for students for Hill Hills uh Hills and Long Road um so just my request is please that um the speed at which cottenham is growing is matched by the public transport provision and lastly uh a local issue the 7A service thanks
Again to the officers the work we’ve done on this um hingston is feeling a little bit left out of uh the rout realignment so if we could look at that thank thanks chair as I say I’m happy for officers to come back sub subsequent rather report now yeah and I think there
Will be some things that we’re able to answer today and some things we’ll need to come back on but this is a work in progress so then actually can I I’ll just I also just want to say that may Nick and I have been doing a lot of work
With officers on Route 9 um we’re very concerned to see those latest cuts and the second we found out about it we were asking officers to think about what plans could be put in place so yes this I think is something that’s really on
The mind of a lot of us in the committee um councelor saton thank you chair uh I would like to make the committee aware that on the 26th of February a motion was passed by full Council in fendon regarding the lack of bus services and therefore the failure
Of the cpca to deliver its commitment in the LCP FDC noted that the proposed changes to bus services in fenland are not commensurate with the leads of the rural communities within our district such lack of public transport contributes to social isolation inability to take full advantage of educational and employment
Opportunities and to take care of the health needs of the residents the local transport and connectivity plan evidently falls short of its own commitment to make transport more accessible to everyone given that the district has the same has some has some the country’s most deprived Wards and competent Health in
Inequalities FDC resolves to call upon mayor to review the ltcp and proposed bus service position in order to address the needs of residents in fenland we would also draw your attention to external evidence highlighting the need for transport improvements in Fon in November 2023 Friends of the earth published their
Independent research showing how bus services have plummeted outside London over the last decade When comparing local Authority trips reductions per hour for weekday is between 203 and 2006 against 2023 Finland has seen a reduction in service of 83.8% this is the second worst figure in the country as
Stated we call upon the mayor to review the ltcp and proposed bus service provision in order to address the needs of residents in Finland that was the motion that was passed uh by the full Council on the 26 and one other point I’d like to make if I May is that and I
Think it was mentioned earlier about trying to put a sticking plaster on what we’ve got at the moment um I think we need to look at what is required and what is needed rather than just trying to improve uh the deficiencies that we and inequalities that we have and I have
Been pushing for some time uh for a discussion between the cpca and Parish councils uh and I know that Neil bars when he was here did speak to one Parish Clark to try and set something up in December and still nothing has happened um so I’m not quite sure how uh
New bus services can be implemented when you haven’t had the opportunity to discuss the needs with the parishes and I’m sure it is not just sended it must also apply to other districts within the area thank you chair okay because the a lot of quite Technical and broader questions I’m
Going to try and take as many as I can before coming back into you here so um councelor Elie I think you’re next thank you chair you’ll be relieved to know mes really quick can we just in with with the uh the one pound bus far for under
25s uh you’ll be aware that um there are potentially at least two new services in in the petsburgh area can we ensure that as part of the tendering process the the potential um operators of those services are aware that there’s a one pound scheme and that they are looking to implement it thank
You thank you a question there on the one pound F councelor shayer thank you very much chair um I applaud the uh Cambridge to Huntington direct rout will that run to the train station in Huntington my question on that one the other ones there are some fantastic
Ideas the the better connectivity for um chatus and El and um chatus also to man station and and I note that that is to be coordinated with the train times which is what we need the uh one that goes from whis Beach Christ Church also to man station to be coordinated with
The train times these are these are absolutely essential I think there are two that worry me a little bit that is the peterb to March bus will that compete with trains perhaps another one uh march to Whitty as well because obviously there’s a there’s a train line
There so um I’d like to see more of an overall View and connectivity as regards those particular ones thank you very much chair thank you I’m going to keep ping for if I can so cancor Shar thank you chair um probably three four points um yes touching on service 9ine we um certainly
A few councils had a meeting with Stage Coach um um about three weeks ago about that service so it is very um one that’s very important to to that locality um and there is some without going to technical details there is some section 106 monies around from developments of
Quite big um building up to the north but that that won’t kick in until later in the project because I think it’s got to be triggered once 300 houses are built so I’d be interested maybe outside the meeting to understand how that’s going to be one technical point on the
Paper on 2.6 we’ve got three items in bold does that mean we’re actually voting on on those today because it just say it is recommended to introduce I don’t know you maybe officer can answer that then looking at the proposals for future um Services certainly I’ve been
Heavily involved with the ATV 1102 Group which runs through a fair bit of my division they’ve I know put forward some new routs it be interested to see that um and also interested outside the meeting to look at the table that was put up um on the screen which I haven’t seen and
And also getting some idea of the funding because we’ve got a massive shopping list here and um the accountant in me which I’m sadly I am um sort of says um I’ve got no numbers against those so what what of those can we actually spend and finally touching on
Council McDonald’s point about six mile bottom that part of that is in my it’s got about three different District um Wards in it um some in South cams some in East cams and there is actually a railway station there the platform is still there but and the trains run through but obviously the
Station is um no longer operational but yes it’s a a strange one thank you thanks L Whiteford thank you um as a representative of a a district with significant uh rural populations as as well I have to say I am empathized with an awful lot of where councilor Satan and it sounds like
Fenland District Council are coming from uh in terms of the importance of bus services particularly in connecting up rural areas I I think one of the places I depart from the analysis of of the motion he just shared with us um is the suggestion of uh responsibility and
Blame on the part of the combined Authority there I think we recognize there are broader structural factors not least linked to um national uh government policy around uh funding and support for for buses and public transport that are at play there and and there’s a you know big bigger
Conversation that we clearly clearly don’t have time for but um the sentiment of trying to do what we can um with uh rural uh buses um I absolutely agree with and I think that’s informed um a lot of C the contributions that we as a district have brought to discussion in
This committee uh over the past couple of years um I I think the roots uh set out in the appendix um are clearly never going to cover all of all of the ask we we might want but um uh the uh new um and change services with respect to
Hunting vure are certainly very welcome uh for us um we found it very helpful discussing those with CPC cpca offices in the uh briefings of the district and City councils referenced in the paper which is where we’ve used um we’ve used those as an opportunity to bring up a
Lot of the local concerns around the roots and and have had some very productive conversations um arising out of that so so I wanted wanted to to thank officers and and clearly it sounds like that that hasn’t been um uh manifested in in quite the same way um everywhere um within the paper
Route f is referenced as part of the three uh listed in 2.6 that cap sharp draw attention to as well um that’s in in Huntington Shire um clearly with the data presented to us it’s pretty difficult to justify a subsidy of um nearly nearly A1 pound per passenger
Journey um with an average of just two passengers per day uh on the uh on the morning um uh bus service but um certainly this has caused concern locally um beyond the scale at which that uh statistic would suggest not least uh as I understand there are um
Examples of students using this as a route to get to to school so from the data here it’s cleared if to make a decision other than the one uh that’s listed but um I I would urge that we um reflect off offline around um uh other sign posting available to ensure that
The um home to school run in particular uh isn’t isn’t being avoidably uh lost for for students in our district thank you there’s a lot for you there um I did as lead member just want to reinforce one point which is that the bus reform work we’re doing at
The moment in terms of the routs that we’ve looked at we’ve never said that this would be all we would do or that this would be everything and I think it’s really important seven over seven million sounds a lot of money but it is not going to solve Decades of underinvestment in a
Public transport Network so as chair I would like to absolutely note the enthusiasm from every single person who was spoken for improving our buses and I think that is hugely welcome and speaking with one voice on the importance of better funding for public transport I think puts us in a really
Strong position and I think it’s really heartening to hear the support that everybody is having within this committee for better buses for Kasher and peterb I think it’s a it’s absolutely an aspiration we all share so Andrew over to you please thank you chair yeah I I’ll try and answer as many
As I can and some I’ll takeway uh to provide written responses I think probably the the quickest question was counc elies and probably the quickest answer that yes we will ensure the one pound fair is covered on new services that are contracted out during this year
And in terms of a general update on the nine because I appreciate it something that’s very there’s a lot of awareness about it at the moment we have undertaken a accelerated tender exercise to provide a contracted solution to restore as much of the service as possible um obviously there’s been quite
A severe degradation of the service from the journeys that were there previously and down to three with the new commercial uh proposal from stage coach we’re proposing to double that and work towards getting bids in to try and Achieve that by April 14th that still
Doesn’t get it the level it is now I think what’s complicated that process a little bit is that the Journeys for stage coach’s new commercial service have not remained static to what’s there at the moment for example there’s a journey from littleport at 6 o’clock in
The morning and one at 7 the new commercial solution has one at 6:35 so it’s very difficult to build around that to put in a contractor solution that doesn’t directly compete unfortunately that’s the nature of a deregulated Market we have at the moment we’ve tried to work at PACE to provide the best
Solution we can and we’ll keep obviously councilors informed and the committee as we progress through that pace to provide a solution um just a couple of the other things to pick up I think in terms of some of the specifics um Cambridge to Huntington we are looking at the bus
Station and rail station huntingt as a main points as well as potentially the hospital we just need to do a few bit more of a refinement of the um timetable to sort of factor all of that in I think the key thing with that service is we’re
Intending it to be an Express service so it’s that balance between the more places it stops the slower it’s going to make the journey time versus what we want to do with getting it into Cambridge and back to Huntington and really relevant point about the integration in terms of both the timings
Of rail journeys but also the competitiveness of bus versus rail um is something I I did a lot in harer when we were setting up new Services of how we can make bus service distinct from a rail service and differences sometimes between them but the bus service might
Set up a lot more local Journeys and a rail service can do realistically and fill in of some of those gaps aren’t available to people as well as sometimes obviously cost between those two services and making buses as affordable as POS possible um I think generally a few points were raised around rural
Transport in general I think it is something very much in our mind with both this investment linked to the precept and some of the services proposed as well as ongoing work that we’re doing and making sure that mix is right so that rural uh residents don’t suffer from social isolation and have
That access to transport that people in cities do um have on a more sustainable footing and that’s something that’s really mindful of how we’re working through these methodologies and what we’re doing to sort of build that as a general concept and I think finally I think there’s a
Couple of things from councelor sharp apart from the service nine funding is a really important Point we’ve we’ve used in that table you’ll see when you get a chance to look at a bit more the main Peak vehicle requirement will drive cost and so we can approximate that Peak
Vehicle requirement to make sure it fits in within the budget envelope and a Gateway review we have now with the design phase to make sure that our designs fit that budget envelope still from the previous work we’ve done um and just check and challenge that if that is
The case we can then move forwards because we know we got the services that mix with the budget envelope we’ve got if it doesn’t for whatever reason we can go back and review and refine as we do that process um a tob1 102 we’ve had some good engagement with them the last
Few weeks and Jonathan in terms of some of the proposals they’ve made that has been factored into some of our designs and we’re sort of in constant engagement with that group to make sure the designs that come out fit what the local community wants for those roots when we
When we bring them and publish them I think that is most things I’ve tried to cover with the responses and happy to take away the other technical points and come back with written responses thank you and I think Judith you just want to come in as
Well yes thank you chair I was just going to come back to councelor Satan and reassure him that we are preparing um a response um to uh the um the decision that was taken at at full Council on the 26th of of February obviously um we absolutely share your
Ambition to address all of the connectivity challenges across the rural area um and the impact that that has on people being able to access employment and education opportunities and really look forward to working with you collaboratively to address some of those issues going forward totally recognize the point that you’re making about the
Need for a long-term Vision but also we need to look at what we can do um in the short term as well and that’s absolutely at the basis of how we use that precept money as as wisely as possible but we’re all obviously Bound by the government
Funding that we have or don’t have in this area to take forward that agenda so we need to look at what we can do as the art of the possible now but also hold that long-term Vision so we will be providing a formal response and I look forward to working with you
Collaboratively on those issues I appreciate that thank you there are any other comments or questions councilor wford thank you um I think your your reflection earlier chair was really um helpful and reassuring about the fact that you know articulated in different ways from different local perspectives
Um sounds like across the chamber we we continue to support the idea of uh better buses and finding a finding a better way of of doing this and Judith touched on uh resource explicitly of course um risk of blowing the tone obviously the the other the other
Question there is is you know ways of um willing better uh buses but um you know the need to the need to support ways of raising the revenue for that I think what one of the reasons we’re particularly interested to see progress on the next item um not to blur your
Blur your items around developing a a business case that would then let us um revisit some of those questions obviously they’re politically charged but um better better buses cost something this is the last sweep for any comments on this one so councelor shayer I saw your hand anyone
Else okay thank you very much chair just to continue with the theme of um shorter and longer term Solutions the um I think pretty much everybody supports and a decent row link between whis Beach and March but um any solution would take time so in the meantime an Express Bus
Surfice for this you know has obvious advantages and just to mention that Whitt SE station doesn’t have any bus connectivity at the moment so that seems to be a bit of a gap in our ambition thank you very much thank you and I think it is worth noting picking
Up on the comment that’s been made around the funding window the east of England is one of the lowest funded in the country for public transport um we operate within the means that we have we need more funding for public transport in the east of England and some of that quite a
Bit of that needs to come from central government and I think it’s important to remember that I think we probably I suspect we all agree that there is a huge need for greater funding I think it is important to put that on the table because what we’re asking officers to do is
To do what they can with the money that we are able to find them and I would want to pay huge tribute to the work of the officer team I am consistently convinced that there’s really two Andrews because he seems to be doing so
Much at once but he him and his bus team are working so hard and KN did before him on trying to get this through to try and do the maximum we can with the money that we have and I want to pay tribute to that and thank you for your patience
On the fact that you didn’t have that chart in front of you in your papers it was being produced pretty much right up until the moment the button was pressed yesterday because this is clearly ongoing and we it’s a it’s a fluid situation so thank you Andrew are there
Any final comments you want to make on any of the things you’ve heard on this I think the only point I probably missed was regarding the parish engagement and that’s something I’ll take away and to speak with my predecessor about how we can make sure that’s effective going
Forward thank you and I think that’s helpful I I’m aware that um probably as well it will be useful we we’ve mentioned already once the idea of having some offline tick discussions on some of the issues that have come up today I think what will be helpful for
Us is probably as tick members to talk about what responsibility we can take and what actions we can take to ensure that where we know parishes are very keen to be involved or where we know there are parishes that should be Keen to be involved that we know how to feed
That back in because we play a really key role as members um we did I think ask about um Capal being involved and whether we can get something quite strongly embedded around ensuring that they are passing things out to their members I think that would be helpful um probably also worth having
A chat to um South cams in a bit more detail because I know for example that South cams had a parish council Forum at which um Dr Nick was invited to speak so it might be useful to have a little bit more information from South cams about
How what that model was and how that model can be applied across other areas I think that will be very helpful thank you very much now we’re going to move on this is our um penultimate substantive item on the agenda and this is an update on bus reform I think Judith you’re
Going to talk us through this one thank you and again just to be clear some of this will be referring to items that have now been published for the board papers if you do want to open those board papers and have a look and have that in front of you then do feel
Free thank you chair and thank you for committee for um accepting a verbal update the this morning um and clearly the work on bus reform is absolutely a cpca priority and something that we wanted to be able to bring you the latest position and update so what I’m
Going to do this morning is to update you verbally using the board paper that was published um yesterday afternoon or early evening um and I’ll perhaps talk to the recommendations ask the chair if there’s any questions at that point then talk through the key areas of the paper
Andrew has already covered of course the bus Network improvements so I will be focusing on the part of the board paper that relates to bus reform and obviously happy to take questions and also to feed those back to the the board as well through through the
Chair so you will see in the uh update paper that is going to the board on the 20th that there’s four recommendations and as I say I’m going to focus on three of them so the first one is around noting the progress in the franchising proposals including the update on the
Audit process um and noting that as a result of that process not being closed off as yet that there will be a decision to bring that final business case with the full findings of the auditor to a board in the summer before uh a request to uh move to a public consultation and
Seek approval for that the second recommendation is that is is requesting the board to approve the officers prepare for an interim enhanced partnership to act as a stepping stone to the four The Wider reform that franchising could give obviously I can go into more detail shortly and then the
Third recommendation will be to note that cpca is required by the department for transport to produce an updated bus service improvement plan and that will need to be submitted by the 12th of June so that and we’re asking for delegated approval to allow me to sign
That off so that that can go in a timely fashion but chair I’ll perhaps just pause there see if there’s any immediate questions I’m very happy to to to go into the rest of the paper thank you and I have to say that was a remarkably comprehensive um summary in such a brief
Amount of time so thank you questions comments right so I think I’ve got councelor sharp first then councelor wakeford and just keep putting your hand up to me if you’d like to be added to the list councelor sharp just two very um broad questions I suppose one is the
First one on the updated bip and the bus service improvement plan um knowing the issues we’ve had in the past how ready is that to go and how realistic is that to get a good plan plan into government by the 12th of June would be my first
Comment and the second thing about the in and I did see the paper or the thing that got sent out last night the about the interim en enhanced partnership again looking at the funding of that is that going to take away funding if we do that and then
We afterwards go down a franchising route are we actually using up money that we could have used on on franchising that or we wasting money in the short term you could have spent in the long term thank you councilor wford thank you Ju Just more basic level that the um change
To time to scale around the audit well obviously hang on need to turn your mic off start again thank you the um Extended uh time cycale around the audit is obviously you know disappointing given the level of of ambition we have to move forward with
This but I I I do think on on on reflection um the reassurance that cpca is actually engaging with the audit process as carefully as possible to help ensure it is as defensible and robust as possible um and not least given the um uh scrutiny uh uh including of a legal sort
It may come under at at later stages I think um that that has to be the right decision and even though it’s um you know in the short term a hitch to the uh timelines um longer term I’m quite confident that is the the correct Decision Council McDonald thanks chair um just following on from that point um you know we discussed at the last committee the process and timelines for for the audit um I do understand it’s got to be a really thorough job um in terms of all of us being confident in the in the
Value for money and and the thoroughness so I agree whilst you know we’re all looking forward to an update I do understand why it’s taking a little bit longer thanksa uh can I just ask you to clarify does that mean that the results of the audit will come back to this committee
Before it goes toity board any other questions at this point okay Judith are you picking those up yes apologies for leaving the microphone on I’m going to have to get more used to the the etiquette of of of microphones um so on on the first issue regarding
The um councilor CH which was regarding the resources available for the um bip process obviously you’ll be aware um that we had to submit a bip um in 2021 and then then indeed we have since had to refresh that document Sor I’m just trying to find the right timing um
And had to refresh that document since then so obviously what this is is a is a further refresh and development of that document so we’re not starting um from scratch however there are three components that are required we have to update the Baseline and get the data but
Obviously we do hold a lot of that information already and the work that we’ve been doing on the preset routes and the network will inform much of that work we also have to then set out the Improvement program what we intend to do and a pipeline of prioritized proposals
So we will be commissioning some additional help to allow us to do that but we believe we are absolutely confident and are working on the basis that um we absolutely will achieve that deadline we’re having regular contact with DFT to support that process both in terms of talking to them about our
Progress and also getting the information on how we actually do the work um so it is critical that we do submit in time and we absolutely will submit in time because obviously if we don’t that puts further funding at risk so that’s um very much a uh commitment
That we have made to achieve that date your F on question was then related to that kind of resourcing issue on the interim enhanced partnership and was there a risk that that might take away resourcing in in the short term there will be an issue about parallel tracking
But obvious in other words parallel tracking the steps towards the interim um EP alongside continuing to do uh the franchising work however obviously what we’ve set out in in the details of the board paper is that um we are doing at officer level a kind of check and
Challenge of the process just to make sure that we are um entirely clear that all the necessary steps to jump through the franchising audit process are in place um that we’ve got all the information we need and that we can be confident that when we provide further
Timelines that we are um going to be able to hit them so that piece of work will be done and then it will be back to the Auditors to do the the auditing work and so we can take that through as I say there will be some interim um there will
Be some preparation work in terms of the enhanced partnership and in the board paper you’ll see there’s eight steps that we need to go through um so we will bring in some additional resource to make sure that we can work through that but we have sort of in reflecting on
This as as officers um we feel strongly on on two counts that that’s really important to do one because DFT have an expectation that we now move away from the deregulated status quo to either an EP on a franchise and are able to give an update on that on the 12th of June
When we submit the bip so we need to make sure that we’ve got a clear narrative for that and that then links to Future resourcing so obviously one of our goals is to make sure that we jump through the necessary Hoops to access the money to bring the greatest benefits
To the kind of communities and businesses um in this area through the bus reform so um there will be some short-term resource challenges but we’re working through those by bringing some additional people in to make sure that we can focus on delivering the B and delivering the enhanced partnership
Um initial steps as a stepping stone to the longer term objective of getting through the audit on franchising um councilor wakeford you you picked up the issues around the the time scale and um yes I mean com having sort of reflected on the process there’s only two places in the UK that have
Actually got to a franchising model in Manchester and Liverpool and if it was easy to do this I expect many other places would have already done it um we also need to recognize that they’ve done that in an urban environment and we have clearly as as we’ve heard this morning a
A rural environment and so we also have a rapidly growing young population and all of those things bring their own demography which has an impact on the economic and financial modeling that that that we’re needing to do and so I think to take the time to make sure that
That is understood in the model moding is is quite important and because it is difficult it obviously time needs to be taken um and that then does reflect um on Council McDonald’s point about about value for money which we have to continue to take an have an eye on and
Our um at the board of course and as part of the report the section 73 officer who’s obviously currently um Nick Bell um he has to be able to sign off the value for money to the board to ensure that he’s comfortable with that so that continues to be a focus of of
The work in terms of of your point uh regarding the timing obviously we’re going to need to continue to work on the timing with the Auditors obviously the intention would be to take through all of the necessary committees but obviously I can’t commit to a timeline at the moment because I’m still waiting
To hear on the Auditors it it may be something that um we uh can explore as we get closer to that time scale being clear and I think one of the issues there is that there are slightly more capacity for additional board meetings than there is capacity for additional tick meetings
So what I think we could and should put down is that we would want as a committee to have seen this and if that can’t be done in a standard meeting cycle then we should have an additional briefing that is arranged to make sure that we go through things so that we are
Absolutely up to speed I think that’s something that we should make sure is in place um councelor shayer anyone else at this point councilor wford oh yes so I think you were was councelor wakeford councelor shayer anyone else councelor wford first please sorry chair I hope I’m not
Skipping a queue no I had you on my list as as next so thank you just just to come back I think there’s a really helpful answers from from uh Judith and and the team um I think particularly in terms of the the time scale U as I understand you’re you’re making the
Point quite quite rightly um uh it is uh uh it is challenging and ambitious what we’re trying to do um clearly it’s out of our hands uh that there is a need for more time this is what engaging with an independent audit process properly looks
Like um just to come back on the um twin tracking uh if if that was the term you used um uh on the um enhanced partnership on inter basis as as well as franchising um that that that was really helpful which I think was an answer particularly with reference to to the
Funding given that was councilor shar’s question um I think I’ve understood please confirm if if not that essentially what it means is um there is not going to be a uh delay uh to the um franchising as a result of the the interin hearts partnership as well given
The steps that you’ve outlined not asking you to repeat all of that but um if fundamentally I’ve got the gist right that would be really useful to put on the record thank You thank you councelor Shaya thank you very much chair I was wondering about um how the bus companies feel about this sort of switch and switch from a business point of view um one of the benefits of franchising is that they can do forward planning and this looks a little bit like um
Switching around so I I wonder if we have any feedback from from the company thank you councilor wakeford certainly It’s Our intention that there we are twin twin tracking um and that there wouldn’t be um a delay because we are absolutely aware of the need for the
Reform and we are advancing the enhanced partnership model as a stepping stone towards delivering the maximum amount of benefits that we can as an early and opportunity whilst progressing the longer term vision of franchising the second Point regarding the bus companies the mayor sent a note to the bus companies I understand yesterday
Afternoon to after all of the um necessary steps have been taken to inform board members and so on um I personally haven’t received any feedback but Andrew and I are in regular contact and obviously there is a bus for them and I would be expecting that we will be
Having very urgent conversations with them of course obviously any business will want certainty and we are in very uncertain times and this uncertainty isn’t particularly helpful however um they we have been working with the um bus operators Forum they have been aware of the audit process they are aware of
How these things have gone in other places and the complexity of the process so um we certainly have been trying to keep them informed and we’ll be working with them because the fundamental platform of the enhanced partnership is that we do work in collaboration to deliver better outcomes for the area so
We’ll absolutely be focused on that and talking to the Forum on that basis thank you any other comments or does anyone want to come back and anything we’ve said so far where they want further clarification I I did want to come back Rebecca does that the issue around
Whether this comes formally through a tick because it’s constitutionally it can go the board is the one that makes the decisions on this but clearly we all want to ensure that we are fully informed as as a tick and I would count myself in that does the suggestion if
Needed of having a additional briefing meet your concerns okay I just wanted to be really clear that I wasn’t kind of trying to bump anything through there um is there anything else thank you and thank you for a really comprehensive piece and I think those reassurances are particularly helpful
That parallel tracking was that a microphone on again there it was wasn’t um the reassurance is that this is this parallel tracking process doesn’t slow anything down um I’d also want to say thanks inval again to the bus team for the work that they are
Doing and will be doing on this this is why I think there’s definitely more than one of Andrew and probably I think he’s cloned all of his team in order to get so much of this done um thank you for that we are now I believe on the final
Main item which is the budget and performance um report I sometimes feel we should put this at the top every so often just so it doesn’t always come right at the end Tim so um but Tim Greenwood our finance manager will introduce this report thank you chair yeah I’m going to
Put in for higher billing I think on the agenda um this this is the latest report budget monitoring report um starting with a revenue picture much the same that has been reported before we’re expecting an underspend of somewhere in the region of 1.4 million which is mainly due to concessionary fairs under
Spending um onto Capital program there are now a number of programs that we expect to slip into the next financial year some of which we’ve already reported to committee being the A10 the a141 and the flet and Footbridge some which are attached to the paper you’ve already seen on this
Agenda the TCF paper those schemes being the um the a 1260 n Parkway the Cambridge share TCF funded schemes fend gate and March improvements and there are just some other schemes there that got some mined delays which have meant that some spend will slip into the following Financial
Year I’ll take any questions if there are any you any questions okay which I’d say is testimony to the thoroughness of your report so thank you for that um if I could be a bit naughty and just I meant to say on the previous agenda item obviously can we make sure
That Onessa involved as appropriate on this as well because they play a really key part alongside members of the transport and infrastructure committee and assuring that really appropriate scrutiny takes place on such an important item um okay so we are now at the transport and infrastructure committee agenda plan
This is item 13 um or possibly yeah that is item 13 isn’t it um are there any questions or comments on this item okay so we then go on to the date of the next meeting which will be current which is Wednesday the 26th of
June at 10: a.m. do we have a venue for that yet it’s going to be in the new meeting room in Huntington okay so that will be at Huntington District Council okay thank you very much I now declare that meeting closed can you let us know when
You have is the live someone here to close the live stream we’re just pausing for the live stream to be closed I thought perhaps