West Yorkshire Combined Authority - Thursday 28 September 2023, 9:00am - West Yorkshire Combined Authority Webcasting

West Yorkshire Combined Authority
Thursday, 28th September 2023 at 9:00am 

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  1. Mayor Tracy Brabin
  2. Mayor Tracy Brabin
  3. Mr Ben Kearns (Governance Services Officer)
  4. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council)
  5. Melanie Corcoran, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  6. Simon Warburton, Executive Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  7. Mr Alex Clarke
  8. Angela Taylor, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  9. Annette Joseph
  10. Cllr Sue Holdsworth Calderdale Council
  11. Cllr Matthew Morley Wakefield Council
  12. Cllr Cathy Scott (Kirklees Council)
  13. Cllr Jane Scullion (Calderdale Council)
  14. Caroline Allen, Deputy Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  15. Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  16. Mayor Tracy Brabin
  17. Mr Ben Kearns (Governance Services Officer)
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  1. Mayor Tracy Brabin
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  1. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council)
  2. Mayor Tracy Brabin
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  1. Mayor Tracy Brabin
  2. Mayor Tracy Brabin
  3. Cllr Sue Holdsworth Calderdale Council
  4. Mayor Tracy Brabin
  5. Simon Warburton, Executive Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  6. Mayor Tracy Brabin
  7. Cllr Matthew Morley Wakefield Council
  8. Mayor Tracy Brabin
  9. Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe (Bradford Council)
  10. Mayor Tracy Brabin
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  1. Caroline Allen, Deputy Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Mayor Tracy Brabin
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  1. Webcast Finished

1 Apologies for Absence

Mayor Tracy Brabin - 0:00:00
Mayor Tracy Brabin - 0:00:07
welcome everyone to this meeting of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority we have Withers, and I'd like to welcome Annette Joseph from the LEP board to join us. We currently don't have a lecturer in post and thank you so much for stepping up as a new Member to the LEP board to represent the LEP. Thank thank you so much in it shall we just go round the table as your new you obviously so many people
we know each other Tracy the Mayor.
Ben yeah Ben Cohen's Governance Services Officer.
Mr Ben Kearns - 0:00:45
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe - 0:00:50
I am a Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, Leader of Bradford Council.
Irish chief operating officer.
Melanie Cochrane, director of transport policy and delivery.
Melanie Corcoran - 0:00:58
I am signing up to the Executive Director for Transport.
Simon Warburton - 0:01:03
Alex Hough head of bus reform.
Mr Alex Clarke - 0:01:06
Angela Taylor, Director Finance and Commercial Services.
Angela Taylor, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:01:11
Councillor Claire Douglas, Leader of your Council.
I met Joseph and on a new on the LEP Board.
Annette Jospeh - 0:01:26
come on, Councillor Alan Lamb, leader of the Conservative Group, in Leeds.
Cllr Sue Holdsworth - 0:01:31
Cllr Matthew Morley - 0:01:34
warning on Councillor Matthew, Molly portfolio holder, repugnant Otways Wakefield Council.
Cathy Scott (Kirklees Council) - 0:01:41
the warnings Councillor Cathy Scott Leader of Kent police.
morning in it, Councillor James, going in Leader of coded all Council
Cllr Jane Scullion (Calderdale Council) - 0:01:47
Money, we've met Caroline Allen, deputy director, legal governance and
Caroline Allen, Deputy Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:01:53
compliance.
and finally, you may have been slow to use it for the Combined Authority.
Ben Still, Chief Executive (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:02:03
thank you, so we have a meeting today, that is quite a substantive item on bus reform, so any apologies.
Mayor Tracy Brabin - 0:02:08
we've received apologies from Councillor Jeffery, Councillor Paulson, and how substitute Councillor Davies.
Mr Ben Kearns - 0:02:18
thank you, OK, Doak any declarations of interest.

2 Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

3 Exempt Information - Possible Exclusion of the Press and Public

Mayor Tracy Brabin - 0:02:24
no, thank you so much and moving on to Item 3, exclusion of press and public this is this item is and exempt, we have an exempt appendix appendices 1 2.1 2.2 2.3, and free to agenda item 5
so it's treated as exempt under paragraph 3 of Part 1 to schedule 12, A of the Local government Act 1972 as they contain information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person, including the Combined Authority, and further that it is considered that the public interest in maintaining the content of the Appendices as exempt outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information as publication would prejudice current and future decision-making.
so can we agree, the press and public will be excluded from this item when we come to it, we can agree, thank you brilliant, but that recommendation that the information is exempt is agreed, so moving on minutes of September, the 7th 2023 any comments or questions on those minutes,

4 Minutes of the Meeting of the Combined Authority held on 7 September 2023

For Decision

5 Bus Reform

no, thank you so much, and we can confirm those as an accurate record OK, dogs are moving on to bus reform, as I said, this item contains a number of exempt appendices and we can discuss the content of the public report, but must go into closed session for any discussion in relation to the exempt information coming back to the public session to consider the recommendations and to make our decision.
this item is about bus reform and today is another step in the process of is considering the options that can match our ambitions for London style bus network
at our meeting in May, we agreed to submit the bus reform assessment to audit and, following the completion of that process, we are now asking the Combined Authority to consider the next step in the process and to agree to go to consultation.
can I just under score that this isn't a final decision on bus reform, which we would only come to after the consultation has been completed, may I handover now to Councillor Hinchcliffe to introduce this point,
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe - 0:04:57
thank you, Mayor, so as you say we're discussing a bus reform today at this meeting and the crucial role that buses play for everyday connectivity as well as in supporting the region's economic growth of towards decarbonisation and Placemaking buses are essential to an integrated transport system and the current bus system is not delivering with a variety of customer and market challenges which we are all probably aware of and that's demonstrated through both long-term patronage decline and network mileage decline, bus reform is therefore required in order to achieve our bus objectives.
with the current enhanced partnership, not delivering the pace and scale of change required for the communities in West Yorkshire, whether they currently use a bus or they could do so in the future, which obviously we'd like them to do for the benefit of bus companies or bus costs to customers. Reform options need to deliver interventions, including network enhancements, simpler fares, integrated tickets, streamlined customer service and better aligned bus priority and greener buses, to improve the passenger experience and also to address the challenges facing the bus system, and it's welcome that the combined authorities assessment for bus reform has had the independent audit review, which assures all of us of the quality of that work and allows us to consider the next step or and as this is about a decision on improving the experience of bus for people in West Yorkshire, it's right now that we consider giving the wider public the opportunity to have their say in consultation before we and indeed you may take any final decision
the proposal here is that we consider whether to make the information of the assessment we have received in private papers available through the consultation.
I think it's important to say that there is no silver bullets with buses and no governance mechanism which gives everything everybody wants. The assessment recognises that without further investment, passenger numbers will still decline in line with long-term trends under either EPI plus or franchising, and that franchising would slow that, to the greater extent than the other options, whatever it was decided to proceed with on bus reform, we need to continue to look for how to make a sustainable, integrated transport network for West Yorkshire and of course pressed national governments to make the required funding available to support this valued public service. Thank you. Thank you so much, Oak haddock, so can I ask Members?
Mayor Tracy Brabin - 0:07:20
Therefore, we agree to go into a closed session at this point and to discuss any elements of exempt me t material, so I can I ask a member of the press and public to leave the room and for webcasting to be paused
thank you will just take a moment for.

5 Bus Reform

Mayor Tracy Brabin - 0:07:38
thank you, so let's go on to the recommendations or are we happy to
Mayor Tracy Brabin - 0:07:46
just have a further discussion, not referring to the exempt items, where colleagues might want to express an opinion so Councillor Lamb yeah, thank you my grateful for the opportunity and if I could add my thanks to a piece of work that's been done, I'm grateful to Simon and
Cllr Sue Holdsworth - 0:08:05
Alex for their presentation showing the third time we've we've met this week to to discuss sorry for probably worse for them than for me I think, but if it is an impressive piece of work
and so thank you to you and your treatment.
yeah, but I appreciate what you've said in the the pre-meeting sorry, the private meeting, that others have done a huge amount of the work, so I'm sure it will pass on everybody's thanks for for that, as Councillor Scotland said in the private meeting and all of us want to see significant improvements to to the bus network and there's a big opportunity here to do that.
my view is looking at this significant piece of work that has been done, actually we could get on and deliver that quickly for a fraction of the cost by going through an enhanced partnership.
I suspect that's not what's gonna happen and the public having the chance to have their say is a positive thing, what I'd like an assurance of is assuming the decision, I think the
the Board are going to make is to go to consultation that that will be balanced, that's difficult because the two options are either we go through an enhanced partnership which doesn't require consultation and we go all in on that if we go for a consultation, the default assumption is we're asking people if they want franchising and that's the preferred position of the authority, so I'd like an assurance that the way that will be presented,
is in a balanced way, that people understand the facts and actually what the public come back and say, is we don't care who owns the infrastructure, we don't care what the governance model is. We just want better buses that go where we want to go when we want to go at an affordable price and at a reasonable cost to the taxpayer.
and that everybody round this table is absolutely open to either of those options, if that's what the public tells us, so that's the the reassurance I've been looking for and that the way the consultation goes forward is done in a balanced and fair way, thank you, Simon, would you like to respond to that, then I'll come to Councillor motley, thank you yes, so.
Mayor Tracy Brabin - 0:10:14
2, to confirm to date, as the audit report has set out for Members,
Simon Warburton - 0:10:20
all of the work that we've undertaken has been an unbiased treatment of of the evidence, and I, I can assure members that that will continue to be the case through the consultation. Thank you. Councillor Mowat
at the end of the consultation, what I am of West Yorkshire and what's
Mayor Tracy Brabin - 0:10:40
best for the people, West Yorkshire, not the cheapest blush Yorkshire,
Cllr Matthew Morley - 0:10:43
it needs to make sure what's best for everybody out there because at the minute in the Wakefield district we haven't got to cope bus service, you can't go where you want to go is abysmal, quite truthful and we are in support with that but on what was best for West Yorkshire so if no is cheapest, thank you any further comments, yes isn't.
Mayor Tracy Brabin - 0:11:06
assets and say that really, yes, just the absolutely, it has to be
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe - 0:11:09
done absolutely for it, just as consultation, no doubt about it and affordable, separate as well, actually for the work they've done on this with us over the last few months they've been cooperative and I think that a collaborative arrangement as has worked quite well
I think, going forward, I think we all have to be clear that whatever model is chosen with now chooses in March
there needs to be more funding into buses more subsidy into buses, because this is not a silver bullet. As I said in my opening remarks, you know we if we want a London style bus system, there needs to be London style levels of investment going into the bus services around, and that needs to come, probably from central government, in terms of bus subsidy all over the country, because everywhere in the country is complaining that they don't have the bus services, whether that's urban or rural areas, and I think there needs to be real, long, hard look by government at how buses run. They are the backbone of our economy and if they're not running, if they have to run on a sliver of money, then we're not gonna get the full economic impact of them, so I think I think we need to be clear with the public as well. This is not about
this is about the governance arrangements for buses it we can't at the same time, then talk about the increase in
bus pass, religion and measures would like to do part of that, which was what we would all like to talk about, of course, but this is a specific legal process that we're going through and, of course it has to be done fairly and will be done fairly honestly,
thank you so much OK, no further comments, thank you, so can we a note
Mayor Tracy Brabin - 0:12:36
the the first recommendation that the Combined Authority notes the final approval, approval of the Bus reform assessment and the independent audit report we can note thank you that we can approve in accordance with the Act to give notice of the proposed bus franchising scheme and to make copies of the proposed bus franchising scheme consultation document bus reform assessment and audit reports available for inspection and consult or statutory consultees as listed in section 12.3 E 4 of the Act and set out in this
and set out in this report, as well as the general public more broadly, can we approve?
we yes, Councillor Lamb, turn out just like to report my abstention and my view that actually I think we should be getting on with the enhanced partnership today and delivering improvements to people of West Yorkshire from today, but I note others have a different view, so just like that to be recorded. Thank you Councillor, and we are currently in an enhanced partnership with the bus operators, but I note your abstention. Okay, everybody else. Thank you so much. I, and then recommendation 1.3 that the Combined Authority also approves for publication the bus reform assessment, the audit report and the consultation document relating to the bus franchising scheme, with the finalisation of this delegated to the Executive Director of Transport

6 Governance Arrangements

all approve, thank you so much terrific OK, so I'm moving on to Item 6 governance arrangements, and this report deals with a number of governance matters, including the change of CM member changes to cheering and deputy chair arrangements and appointments to committees, can I pass to Caroline Allen to talk us through the detail,
thank you, Mayor, hopefully this report is very self-explanatory, all
Caroline Allen, Deputy Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:14:32
the changes are set out in the recommendations, there are seven recommendations at part 10 of the report, and they all flow from the changes in appointment from the McCarthy's Combined Authority member, so we have changes there to our transport committee governance and audit membership economy Scrutiny Committee,
and in addition to that, we are proposing a change of portfolio, lead of CA members with Councillor James Lewis, taking the chair of the business economy in innovation committee, and Councillor Cathy Scott chair of the employment and skills committee, finally we we there's there's a reference there, there's a there's a change in membership on the
transport committee proposed by I just lost that one owner that's apologies, the report also reflects and changes to appointments that have been made under my delegation as set out in the report, thank you, Mayor happy to take any questions, but hopefully the report is clear, thank you any comments.
before we go to the recommendations, can I thank Councillor Pandor for
Mayor Tracy Brabin - 0:15:43
his hard work of many years in the Combined Authority for chairing the business economy and innovation committee, and also I'd like to thank Councillor Monisha Kaushik for her work on the transport committee and her role as deputy chair is public service to chair these big committees and to spend time with us trying to sort out transport. So I'd like to thank

For Information

7 Minutes for Information

miniature, particularly our recommendations, as set out in 10.1 to 10.7 of the report, and as the we approved the appointments, as proposed and note, the appointments are made under officer delegation and we're happy to approve the recommendations. Thank you all very much, so that is approved. So moving on to the last item there's minutes for information, I'd like to thank everybody for joining us on what is an important day for the Combined Authority, moving as further on to making the decision regarding better buses and reminded Members of the date of the next meeting 12th of October 2023. Thank you all so much for coming and see you next time. Thank you
No profile image available for Mr Alex Clarke
Mr Alex Clarke
Head of Bus Reform
West Yorkshire Combined Authority
Mr Alex Clarke : View profile page