Agenda and draft minutes

To elect the Chair of the Transportation Advisory Group for the 24/25 Municipal Year.

Nominations were sought for the election of Chair. A nomination was received and seconded for Councillor S Bull. No further nominations were received.

RESOLVED that Councillor S Bull be elected as Chair of the Transportation Advisory Group for the 2024/25 Municipal Year.

To elect the Vice Chair of the Transportation Advisory Group for the 24/25 Municipal Year.

The Chair sought nominations were sought for the election of Vice Chair. A nomination was received and seconded for Councillor S McCormack. No further nominations were received.

RESOLVED that Councillor S McCormack be elected as Vice Chair of the Transportation Advisory Group for the 2024/25 Municipal Year.

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest made on this occasion.

To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution. Further information on the requirements for submitting these is available to view at the following link:-

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeID=151&Info=1&bcr=1

The deadline for the submission of public questions is midday 3 clear working days before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a statement is midday the working day before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a petition is 10 working days before the meeting.

The Group was advised that there had been no public questions or statements received on this occasion.

This report sets out and seeks financial approval for investment of the 2025/26 Local Transport Plan (LTP) grant allocation (capital funding) from the Department for Transport (DfT) and Active Travel Fund 5 (ATF5) grant.

The 2025/26 LTP Capital grant allocation is £10.58m comprising £3.102m of Integrated Transport Block (ITB) funding and £7.478m of Local Highway Maintenance funding.

The Head of Transport and Sustainable Travel presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The Transportation Advisory Group (TAG) was advised of the report and recommendations being submitted to Cabinet at their meeting on 5 March 2025.

In relation to this TAG was informed that the report sets out and seeks financial approval for investment of the 2025/26 Local Transport Plan (LTP) grant allocation (capital funding) from the Department for Transport (DfT) and Active Travel Fund 5 (ATF5) grant.

TAG was advised that the 2025/26 LTP Capital grant allocation is £10.58m comprising £3.102m of Integrated Transport Block (ITB) funding and £7.478m of Local Highway Maintenance funding.

TAG discussed the charging points in detail where officers advised that the charging points were being facilitated by the council at no cost to the council and were supplier funded.

TAG raised the following areas of discussion: -

·       The opportunity to influence how the money is used

·       The governments prescriptive requirements as to how the money is used

·       Addressing issues around access to charging points for those who don’t have driveways

·       Highways maintenance

·       A request for someone from engineering to attend future meetings

·       Whether variable message signs could be used to advise of road closures and congestion.

RESOLVED that the report and recommendations contained within the report were noted and the Transportation Advisory Group agreed the following comments be forwarded to Cabinet on this item:

1.             Concerns were raised with regards to ensuring that the provision of electric charging points meets those who

2.             The Group emphasised the importance of ensuring potholes are dealt with swiftly, particularly those which are a danger to cyclists and those on two wheels.

The Group urged that officers ensure the effectiveness of different road surface treatments to ensure we are achieving long life and value for money.

The council has been awarded a further £5.722m funding allocation by the Department for Transport (DfT) for 2025/26 to continue delivery of the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP).

The purpose of this paper is to seek council approval to accept and invest the grant, noting progress to date made with the delivery of the initial £8.9m three-year BSIP allocation.

It is also recommending approval of a full review of the subsidised bus service network to support the withdrawal of the council’s Bus Subsidy Budget in accordance with the Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP).

The Head of Transport and Sustainable Travel presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'B' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The Transportation Advisory Group (TAG) was advised of the report and recommendations being submitted to Cabinet at their meeting on 5 March 2025.

In relation to this TAG was informed that the report advised that the council had been awarded a further £5.722m funding allocation by the Department for Transport (DfT) for 2025/26 to continue delivery of the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP).

TAG was advised that the purpose of the report was to seek council approval to accept and invest the grant, noting progress to date made with the delivery of the initial £8.9m three-year BSIP allocation.

Further to this TAG was informed that the report also recommended approval of a full review of the subsidised bus service network to support the withdrawal of the council’s Bus Subsidy Budget in accordance with the Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP).

TAG raised the following areas of discussion: -

• Members raised a desire of having input into this going forwards
• Purewell bus priority
• The lack of input from motorists who may be affected by buses
• The need to ensure we feed into the partnership with the bus companies
• Children using the bus for school and the requirement to use the app for tickets

Councillor Alisdair Keddie addressed TAG highlighting that at the previous evenings full council meeting a motion had been passed to address the impact of smartphone use on children’s education and safety. In relation to this Councillor Keddie advised that Barnett Council had recently worked with more than 120 of it’s schools to implement a smartphone ban.

Councillor Keddie questioned whether the discounted children’s bus passes could be delivered outside of the app, as currently MoreBus offers its discounted children’s bus passes by app only which has a side effect of incentivising smartphone use by children.

RESOLVED that the report and recommendations contained within the report were noted and the Transportation Advisory Group agreed the following comments be forwarded to Cabinet on this item:

The Group requested that Officers consult with the bus company with regards to the following: -

1.             the possibility of discounted children’s bus passes being delivered outside of the app; and

2.             review the potential for including school holidays in the £2 unlimited journeys for young people.

The Head of Transport and Sustainable Travel advised of the process for dealing with Traffic Regulation Orders and highlighted that contentious items would come before TAG and then Cabinet for decision.

The Head of Transport and Sustainable Travel advised that there had been a recent announcement of the Local Electric Infrastructure Fund, a £1.59 million fund which will come to a future meeting of the Cabinet with timescales to be confirmed.

Members requested that a workplan item be added to the agenda for future meetings.

The Transportation Advisory Group were advised that the next scheduled meeting was 19 March 2025.