This Council resolves to partner with the County Council, the City Council, the Combined Authority and the Greater Cambridge Partnership (in the hope and expectation that they will each be willing to do so) to undertake a comprehensive review of bus services in and around the District and the wider area (and not just to/from Cambridge), in order to assess how significant short- and long-term improvements can be made for the benefit of our residents, employees, employers, students, patients, leisure-travellers and all others; and, to signal it's keenness for this review to take place, and as soon as possible, hereby allocates £50,000 to co-fund such a review.
Decision:
Council AGREED the following motion:
This Council resolves to partner with the County Council, the City Council, the Combined Authority and the Greater Cambridge Partnership (in the hope and expectation that they will each be willing to do so) to undertake a comprehensive review of bus services in and around the District and the wider area (and not just to/from Cambridge), in order to assess how significant short- and long-term improvements can be made for the benefit of our residents, employees, employers, students, patients, leisure-travellers and all others; and, to signal it's keenness for this review to take place, and as soon as possible, hereby allocates up to £50,000 to co-fund such a review.
Minutes:
Councillor Tim Wotherspoon moved the following motion as set out on the agenda, but indicated he wished to amend the wording by adding the words ‘up to’ before £50,000 in the last line:
This Council resolves to partner with the County Council, the City Council, the Combined Authority and the Greater Cambridge Partnership (in the hope and expectation that they will each be willing to do so) to undertake a comprehensive review of bus services in and around the District and the wider area (and not just to/from Cambridge), in order to assess how significant short- and long-term improvements can be made for the benefit of our residents, employees, employers, students, patients, leisure-travellers and all others; and, to signal its keenness for this review to take place, and as soon as possible, hereby allocates £50,000 to co-fund such a review.
The motion was seconded by Councillor David Bard.
Speaking against the proposed motion, Councillor John Williams commented that in the context of the Council’s budget, £50,000 was a significant amount of money and there were other things that this could be spent on that would have a direct benefit to residents. He added that a number of similar reviews were in the pipeline, including a County Council review of subsidised bus services. He suggested the motion had come about through naivety or a crude attempt to have this authority spend scarce tax payers money on a Conservative election gimmick. Councillor Bridget Smith supported the comments made and added that as a member of the GCP Joint Assembly she was aware of the work being done by the GCP as well as work planned by the Mayor. As the district council had no responsibility for public transport, she questioned why this was being proposed. She noted comments made by Councillor Edwards that the Council could not afford to provide anything other than the statutory minimum training for Members, so asked where this money was coming from. Councillor Van de Weyer commented that the Mayor was happy to advocate alternative forms of mass transport but was not convinced he was interested in bus services. Feedback from users confirmed there was significant concern about the impact of recent changes to rural bus services and in his opinion the fundamental problem was there was insufficient money to fund services following the removal of subsidies. He called for radical action including possible congestion charging, provided that the revenue was used to provide improved public transport. Councillor John Batchelor commented there were already too many fingers in this pie and this was clearly a matter for the Combined Authority. He saw no justification for this authority committing resources to support a review. Councillor Tumi Hawkins urged the Council to keep its money in South Cambridgeshire to do work for its own residents.
Councillor Deborah Roberts was unsure what it was hoped to get out of this and why the Council should be looking at spending £50,000 when the Mayor, who had lots of money, had already said he was going to do this. She commented on the success of rural transport schemes that took people where they wanted to go. The money would be better spent supporting this work.
Councillor Tom Bygott supported the motion as there were a number of issues related to bus services that needed to be addressed. It was important to do this in partnership. He suggested significant improvements could be achieved by coordinating bus and rail travel and integrated ticketing. He suggested this should be looked at by the review. Councillor Simon Edwards added that although the Council had no responsibility for public transport, it did have an obligation to its residents to secure improvements. By contributing resources to the review the Council would have an opportunity to steer how things were done. He suggested that the review should also look at improving real time information systems, including the number of seats available on buses. Councillor Sue Ellington commented on the work of the task and finish group on loneliness which was very often based on the fact that our elderly and young people were lonely because they couldn’t get out. It was important to look at not just buses, but innovative ways of getting people out and about. Councillor Nigel Cathcart stated that he had some sympathy with Councillor Ellington’s comments but felt there was merit in having preliminary discussions before committing to a review and that the review should look much wider than just buses.
Councillor Deborah Roberts proposed amending the motion to hold this issue in abeyance until further discussions had taken place with the Mayor and the Combined Authority. Councillor Bridget Smith commented she would be happy to second it.
The Chairman suggested that the amendment could be out of order as it negated the original motion but asked Councillor Roberts to submit the wording of her amendment in writing. Before this could be done, the thirty minute time slot for debating the motion expired and the Chairman asked Councillor Wotherspoon as mover of the original motion to sum up.
Responding to the comments made, Councillor Wotherspoon emphasised that the County Council and Combined Authority were aware of the motion and stressed this was a contribution to a joint review. He supported comments about co-ordination of buses. He commented that a number of Members had suggested that this duplicated something being done elsewhere but confirmed that was not the case as the County Council review related specifically to Whippet services and the Mayor had not committed to doing a review. He was interested in comments made about real time bus information and agreed this would be a great way to take forward the outcome of the social isolation task and finish group. He concluded there had been a crescendo of criticism but finding the answer to the problem was not easy. Hopefully the review would address this.
A vote was taken on the original motion as amended by Councillor Wotherspoon and was cast as follows:
In favour (28) Councillors David Bard, Val Barrett, Ruth Betson, Brian Burling, Tom Bygott, Graham Cone, Pippa Corney, Christopher Cross, Kevin Cuffley, Simon Edwards, Sue Ellington, Andrew Fraser, Roger Hall, Mark Howell, Caroline Hunt, Ray Manning, Raymond Matthews, David McCraith, Charles Nightingale, Tony Orgee, Alex Riley, Tim Scott, Ben Shelton, Peter Topping, Richard Turner, Bunty Waters, Tim Wotherspoon and Nick Wright.
Against (17) Councillors Henry Batchelor, John Batchelor, Anna Bradnam, Neil Davies, Jose Hales, Tumi Hawkins, Peter Johnson, Douglas de Lacey, Janet Lockwood, Cicely Murfitt, Deborah Roberts, Bridget Smith, Hazel Smith, Edd Stonham, Aidan Van de Weyer and John Williams.
Abstain (1) Councillor Nigel Cathcart.
Therefore Council agreed the following motion:
This Council resolves to partner with the County Council, the City Council, the Combined Authority and the Greater Cambridge Partnership (in the hope and expectation that they will each be willing to do so) to undertake a comprehensive review of bus services in and around the District and the wider area (and not just to/from Cambridge), in order to assess how significant short- and long-term improvements can be made for the benefit of our residents, employees, employers, students, patients, leisure-travellers and all others; and, to signal its keenness for this review to take place, and as soon as possible, hereby allocates up to £50,000 to co-fund such a review.