Meeting documents

1 THE ISSUE

1.1 The report outlines progress on the Greater Bristol Bus Network (GBBN) major scheme and recommends that the final bid be submitted to the Department for Transport for Full Approval. In making this bid, the Council needs to enter into an agreement with the other West of England partnership local authorities. This agreement covers the financial, legal and project management arrangements of the scheme. This agreement will ensure that each authority is responsible for delivery of its scheme elements, identified in the construction profile.

1.2 In making the bid to the Department for Transport, the 4 Councils are required to make certain commitments regarding longevity of the scheme (to provide assurance). To do this, in addition to the Memorandum of Understanding they are proposing to develop a Statutory Bus Quality Partnership Scheme and a Quality Bus Partnership Agreement which will also secure First Groups commitment. In addition some of the UA's but not Bath and North East Somerset will require where appropriate further agreement with the Highways Agency.

1.3 The final agreements with the Department for Transport and First Group and Highways Agency will not be signed until the Department for Transport has considered the submission and provided an offer letter to the Councils. The agreements will continue to be refined in the meantime.

1.4 That it be noted that following a value for money exercise and a construction price increase there has been an increase in the estimated cost of the project from £68.603M to a little over 70M. The £1.757m increase will require to be met by the 4 Unitary Authorities. For Bath and North East Somerset this amounts to £219K and will require to be funded from future LTP integrated transport settlements over the four year period of the scheme. This would be achieved by re-prioritisation of the Capital Programme or more hopefully by additional allocations in the DfT settlements over this period.

1.5 That to meet the assurance requirements of the Department for Transport it is proposed that a Statutory Quality Bus Partnership Scheme and a Quality Bus Partnership Agreement for each corridor be developed at the appropriate time.

2 RECOMMENDATION

2.1 The Council Executive resolves that:

2.2 The Greater Bristol Bus Network Major Scheme be submitted to the Department for Transport for Full Approval.

2.3 That the project management approach for the scheme as summarised in this report be noted and incorporated into the legal agreement referred to in recommendation 2.4.

2.4 That the Council enters into a Legal Agreement with the North Somerset, Bristol City and South Gloucestershire Councils and the funding department which defines the roles and responsibilities of all signatories

2.5 That the Council enters into a Memorandum of Understanding with First Group and the other Councils referred to, including entering into a Statutory Quality Bus Partnership and a Quality Bus Agreement as appropriate.

2.6 That the Council accepts in principle the need to fund the additional £219k from future LTP settlements to meet its share of the increased scheme cost outlined in Para 1.4 above.

2.7 That to meet the future maintenance requirements of the project, which are yet to be quantified in detail, and which in turn will need to be negotiated with the Department for Transport, an appropriate provision will subsequently need to be included within future Service Plans.

3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3.1 If the Department for Transport accepts the GBBN bid for full approval, it is expected that DFT will contribute £42.343M toward the project. Bath and North East Somerset Council's share of this was £3.613M prior to the Value Management Exercise and is now £4.952M and represents a significant increase in funding available to the authority through the LTP process. ( See Appendix Two)

3.2 Once the scheme has received full approval then the funding will be paid to Bath and North East Somerset Council, who it is proposed will act as Banker for the project. The budget will then be redistributed to the other authorities in line with the legal agreement identified in Recommendation 2.4 above to ensure the correct apportionment of liability and responsibility for each of the Unitary Authorities in terms of delivering the scheme.

3.3 The Major Scheme process limits the risk of cost over-runs to the Department of Transport. Once full approval has been achieved however, this risk transfers to the four local authorities. The £42.343M bid includes an allowance for risk of £3.48 M at the 80% confidence level based on the risk analysis completed in the bid. The latest estimate of costs for the project (excluding the contributions from First and developers) is £44.1M; this has arisen due to increases in construction costs. It is proposed that the difference of £1.757M be found from other sources. For Bath and North East Somerset Council this amounts to £219,000 which would require to be funded from the LTP integrated transport allocation.

3.4 If cost over-runs do occur then it should be noted that the Department for Transport has proposed changes to the approach on how risk is shared between them and local authorities and these are likely to affect this project (see http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_localtrans/documents/pdf/dft_localtrans_pdf_611479.pdf for details. The approach suggested in this document is that each project will have an agreed risk layer within which cost over-runs are shared on a 50% basis between the local authorities and the Department for Transport. Beyond this risk layer then the costs are 100% the responsibility of the local authorities. Should cost over-runs occur then these would require to be funded from future LTP allocations or other capital resources.

3.5 The delivery of this scheme will lead to a large increase in the quality and quantity of bus and other infrastructure. The Department for Transport require assurances regarding the future maintenance of this infrastructure and this has implications for the revenue budget for the on-going operation and maintenance of real-time information at bus stops as well as for the maintenance of bus shelters, new traffic signals and other infrastructure provided. For Bath and North East Somerset this figure has yet to be calculated in detail.

3.6 It should be noted that if GBBN is successful it will significantly reduce the 4 Council's future funding liability to meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act (see equality implications below). For Bath and North East Somerset Council this amounts to some £403,400 that would have otherwise had to have been found from other sources so represents a significant reduction in the Council's liability in this area.

3.7 Provision for the Council's commitments for the forthcoming financial year are accordingly contained within approved capital and revenue budget provision

4 CORPORATE IMPROVEMENT PRIORITIES

5 CPA KEY LINES OF ENQUIRY

5.1 The Greater Bristol Bus Network supports the CPA lines of enquiry of improving the quality of public transport and easing congestion, it will assist in promoting the independence of older people, improve the life chances of disadvantaged teenagers by offering access to improved public transport provision, and assist in improving customer satisfaction whilst developing a sustainable economy for Bath and North East Somerset.

6 THE REPORT

6.1 The GBBN Major Scheme bid was submitted to the Department for Transport in July 2005. In July 2006 the Government announced that it had accepted the scheme for "programme entry" into the Department for Transport's Local Authority Major Scheme Programme.

Details of the GBBN major scheme bid are included in the final bid submission but in summary it is a £70M project to improve the bus infrastructure, services and vehicles along 10 corridors in the sub-region. The £70M is made up as follows:

6.2 The map below shows the particular bus routes that benefit from this project (some of the routes not included in this project will receive investment from the Local Transport Plan instead). Planned improvements include bus stop enhancements, real-time information, new and improved vehicles and further bus priority measures. First Group have also committed to improving the frequency of certain bus services. There will also be road safety benefits due to some of the junction improvements proposed as well as benefits for cyclists. The scheme is predicted to have a positive impact on overall congestion in the sub-region and lead to greater use by public transport.

7 RISK MANAGEMENT

7.1 The report author and Lead Executive member have fully reviewed the risk assessment related to the issue and recommendations, in compliance with the Council's decision making risk management guidance. The major scheme business case includes a risk register which is updated by the interim independent programme directors.

8 RATIONALE

8.1 GBBN supports the Councils corporate priorities, not accepting the recommendations in section 2 would have a detrimental affect our work with other UA's and our future aspirations for future major transport schemes including the Bath Package. The burden of complying with DDA legislation and the provision of transport infrastructure would fall on the Council.

9 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED

9.1 The only other option would be to not make the bid for full approval to the Department for Transport. The implications of this would be significant in terms of our work with the other Joint Local Transport Plan partners and our aspirations for further major transport investment.

10 CONSULTATION

10.1 Executive Councillor; Section 151 Finance Officer; Chief Executive; Monitoring Officer.

10.2The Greater Bristol Bus Network was consulted upon as part of the development of the provisional and Final Joint Local Transport Plans and received positive support. Investment in public transport and particularly buses was identified by respondents as the highest priority for investment and this bid reflects that aspiration. Ideas for further consultation on the project were sought at the last Joint Local Transport Forum held in December 2006. The bid provides for further detailed consultation on the project once it has received full approval.

11 ISSUES TO CONSIDER IN REACHING THE DECISION

11.1 Social Inclusion; Customer Focus; Sustainability; Young People; Equality (age, race, disability, religion/belief, gender, sexual orientation); Corporate; Health & Safety; Other Legal Considerations

12 ADVICE SOUGHT

12.1 The Council's Monitoring Officer (Council Solicitor) and Section 151 Officer (Strategic Director - Support Services) have had the opportunity to input to this report and have cleared it for publication.