Agenda and minutes

To note apologies for absence and confirm the quorum of 11 members is met.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mark Thompson and Julie Medford.

The meeting was confirmed as quorate, with 14 members present (out of 11 needed to meet the quorum).

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests

Cllr Dave Merrett declared a non-pecuniary interest as a member of the Northern Transport Activists Roundtable, York Bus Forum and as a concessionary bus pass user

There were no items requiring the exclusion of the press and public.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 29 September 2023 be approved.

The Chair provided a verbal update on the government’s newly published Level 4 Devolution technical document and accompanying Scrutiny Protocol.

·       The Protocol is a best practise guide for combined authorities on how to conduct scrutiny most efficiently.

·       Compliance with the Protocol is required if the Combined Authority is to progress towards Level 4 Devolution, receiving any further powers or funding.

·       West Yorkshire’s Scrutiny was highlighted in the Protocol as an example of best practise under principle 7; for using external (and Member) technical experts to advise members on specific topics at committee meetings.

The Scrutiny Protocol sits under the Corporate Scrutiny Committee’s remit, which has established a working group made up of members from all three scrutiny committees. Members are welcome to volunteer by informing the scrutiny officers.

The Chair also reminded members that CfGS training on scrutinising finances is available later in the month and she encouraged members to take part.

Resolved: 

(i)             That the Chair’s verbal update be noted.

(ii)            That members who would like to be part of the Scrutiny Protocol Working Group contact the Scrutiny Officer.

The Chair thanked the Mayor Tracy Brabin and officers for attending the Committee.

Officers in attendance to support the Mayor included the Executive Director for Transport, the Director of Transport Operations & Service Transformation and the Head of Place and Environment Policy.

The session was split into topic areas and members were able to ask any questions under those topic areas, and any follow ups. The topic areas were the Autumn statement, Bus Reform, Decarbonisation, Mass Transit and Housing.

The Mayor thanked the committee for their work and was pleased that the West Yorkshire Combined Authority was mentioned in the Scrutiny Protocol as a best practice example in using technical expertise and understands that the next steps in implementing the Scrutiny Protocol may be to consolidate the three scrutiny committees into one, as advised, pending a formal review and final decision by the CA. 

Autumn Statement

The Mayor expressed her views on the Autum Statement in response to members questions:

• After HS2 for the North was cancelled, she hoped there will be further scrutiny nationally into where the funding has gone, believing that funding should be reserved for transport projects in North.
• She welcomed the continued commitment to WY mass transit and has pressed government for long term devolved funding model (“single settlement funding”) which allows far more flexibility in deployment of funds as an alternative to the separate, smaller funding pots that is currently the case – which will support delivery of big schemes like mass transit.
• She welcomed the commitment to provide funding for a new train station at Bradford as part of the Network North Plan but noted there was no reference to the development of Leeds train station, which requires work to improve capacity to deal with increased footfall, particularly at the weekends.
• £8.3 billion was allocated for road resurfacing across England which the Combined Authority welcomed, alongside the additional £8.55 billion for City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), which included mass transit funding and many other major infrastructure schemes.
• Overall, she felt the Autumn Statement could have been better, more specific and did not address the key issue around local authority funding cuts, which affects the CA significantly as the local authorities are the main delivery partners of their mutual schemes and strategies.

Bus Reform

Franchising and funding for bus services

·       The Mayor noted that for several years bus services have been underfunded and bus companies are private companies whose goal is make profit.

·       The public consultation on bus franchising is still ongoing, so the Mayor was not able to comment on the final decision at this time. The consultation results will be reviewed in January and February, with the final decision made in March 2024.

·       Investment in buses remains a challenge and this is set out in the publication of the bus reform assessment. Whichever model is recommended following the consultation, it will not by itself reverse the long-term issues with buses.

·       The CA will need to work with bus companies to strengthen understanding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

The Chair provided an overview of the current work programme and the next meeting’s draft agenda (26 January 2024).

Resolved:

(i)             That the work programme be noted.

(ii)            That the date of the Flexi Bus Working group on 26 January 2024 be noted.