Decision details

The Cabinet Member noted the expiry of the delegation of Local Transport Functions to Peterborough City Council (PCC) from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) on 31 March 2021 and authorised the resulting transfer of related transport services from PCC to the CPCA to be effective from 1 April 2021;

The CPCA holds strategic transport functions and is the Local Transport Authority for the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough area. Since the establishment of the CPCA in 2017 the CPCA has opted to delegate Passenger Transport Functions to both Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council. 

The delegation of functions since the establishment of the CPCA in 2017 to 31 March 2021 has enabled the Council to continue to deliver various public transport functions. The Council budgets for these services through a Levy payment to the CPCA, retained by the Council during the period of delegation, which has been calculated with due regard to the cost to the Council of providing the services.

The delegated services which the Council currently has responsibility for and the agreed future intentions for these include:

·         Local bus services – the Council is required to identify gaps in the commercial network; develop timetables; consultation; procurement; contract management; payments to operators; budget management; monitoring; publicity (paper and electronic); public enquiry line; Traveline updates; NapTan updates; comment on S106 proposals; implement services from S106 agreements; procure services on behalf of partners; comment on long term transport plans and policies, respond to DfT consultations and questionnaires; distribute the Bus Services Operators Grant (BSOG);

o   Stagecoach 60s Services: the current contract between the Council and Stagecoach will be extended in accordance with its contract terms to 31 October 2021 and the contract will novate to CPCA.

o   Stagecoach ‘citi’ services: the current contract between Stagecoach and the Council will end on 31 March 2021, and new regional service arrangements are being procured by Cambridgeshire County Council on the CPCA’s behalf.

o   Call Connect: contract currently between the Council and Lincolnshire County Council will novate to CPCA.

·         Concessionary travel – implement the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme; procure and implement contract to enable passes to be applied for, printed, distributed and hotlisted; identify reimbursement rate; negotiate reimbursement rate with operators; provide agreements; pay operators; budget management;

o   CPCA will take general responsibility for these arrangements from 31 March 2021 and specifically will be responsible for agreeing and processing reimbursement to operators, although the Council will continue to issue and manage bus passes, in relation to which a further Levy adjustment will be made.

·         Community transport – give advice to providers and public; tender for grants; payments to providers (Dial-a-Ride, community car schemes); issue s19 permits; budget monitoring; grant agreement management;

o   Community Link: although the CPCA will take bookings, PCC will continue to deliver this service on behalf of CPCA.  The Levy will be adjusted to take into account the cost of doing so to the Council.

o   Rural Dial a Ride: again, the CPCA will take bookings and PCC will provide the service. The Levy will be adjusted accordingly.

·         Infrastructure – although not a service in itself, certain infrastructure is required to support the local transport services, and the Council’s responsibilities with regard to this include installing and maintaining bus stops/shelters, installing dropped kerbs, operation of the Queensgate Bus Station and Real Time Passenger Information (RTPI).

o   The Council will continue to install, maintain and improve its bus shelters in its capacity as the Highways Authority.

o   The Council will continue to operate the Queensgate Bus Station and charge departure fees to bus operators.  The CPCA will liaise with bus operators using the bus station and provide such information as the Council may require, to enable it to charge and collect the departure fees. The parties will determine the cost to the Council of operating the bus station and the Levy will be adjusted accordingly.

o   The parties intend that the agreements associated with the provision of RTPI will novate to the CPCA on 1 June 2021 and until such transfer the Council will continue to operate this arrangement on behalf of the CPCA, and the Levy will be adjusted accordingly. 

Provision will be made to allow the CPCA to identify and fund enhanced infrastructure works if it chooses to do so. The parties will determine the cost to the Council of maintenance/installation and the Levy will be adjusted accordingly.

The transferring services have a number of associated assets and legal documents which may require novating to the CPCA, the provision of new contractual arrangements, or the granting of licences or leases to enable the CPCA to continue to provide them.  These include:

·         Contracts with bus operators;

·         Passenger information to enable concessionary fare passes to be granted and certain request based bus services accessed;

·         Agreements (software, licences, lease, maintenance) with regard to provision of services;

·         Contract variations in relation to the Council’s arrangements with third parties.

The Council holds s106 monies, some of which is designated for the support of local transport and the Council will continue to hold these after the transfer. The CPCA will be able to access these monies from 1 April 2021 on the following basis:

·         The Council will retain the funds received in respect of each S106 agreement and release these funds to the CPCA on a case by case basis i.e. when the CPCA is able to submit a plan detailing how it intends to use the funds in order for the Council to satisfy itself that this is in line with the terms of the applicable S106 agreement.

·         The Council will provide the CPCA with a copy of each relevant S106 agreement at the date of the transfer.

·         The Council will provide on a six monthly basis, a list of current S106 agreements and endeavor to answer and questions the CPCA may have in the intervening periods.

·         The Council will seek to discuss future developments with the CPCA to understand the required passenger transport contribution and take this in to consideration when approving applications.

In addition, the Bus Services Act 2017 provides the CPCA with powers to reform the bus market and provide for new types of partnership schemes and the option to franchise bus services. In anticipation of the end of the delegation, the CPCA has commenced a programme of work to assess the new bus reform options available under the Act and pursuant to section 123C(4) of the Act published a notice stating their intention to do so in May 2019. This work is underway but at this point in time there is no preferred option determined for the future provision of bus services.

PCC do not have the right to insist that the Transport Functions are retained by PCC as the CPCA are the Transport Authority and the delegation is not being renewed. PCC will not legally be able to deliver these services to the city without relevant delegations from the CPCA after 31 March 2021.

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