Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Burton.

There were no declarations of interest or whipping declarations.

On 8 February 2010, the Cabinet made an executive decision relating to the Bus Service Review.  In accordance with the Constitution that decision was published on 10 February 2010.  On 15 February 2010, Councillors D Day, JA Fox and Sandford submitted a request to call-in this decision on the following grounds:

(i)                The decision did not follow the principles of good decision making as set out in Article 12 of the Council’s Constitution, specifically that the decision maker did not:

(a)     realistically consider all alternatives and, where reasonably possible, consider the views of the public; and

(b)     follow procedures correctly and be fair.

In support of the request to call-in Councillor Sandford made the following points:

·                     There had been cross party support for the call-in request.

·                     In relation to the 406 service, information had been put forward that the number of passengers using the service was greater than stated and therefore it had been agreed that a number of the morning journeys would be restored.  However, in the Cabinet report the journeys had not been restored and he was advised that a verbal update would be given at the Cabinet’s meeting, however this did not happen.

·                     The trade unions had put forward an alternative proposal which had not been referred to in the report.

·                     Evidence had been provided by the bus drivers that passenger numbers on some of the services was significantly higher than stated.

·                     The Youth Council had complained that they had not been consulted on the proposals, specifically as the proposals had an affect on school children. 

·                     The decision should be referred back to the Cabinet as a series of errors had occurred and the Cabinet should reconsider the proposals further.

In response to Councillor Sandford’s points, Teresa Wood made the following comments:

·                     The proposals around the 406 service had been reviewed following the information supplied by Councillor Sandford.  There had been an error in the Cabinet report and it should have read ‘406 - all journeys before 0745 and all journeys after 1813, with replacement available within walking distance on Citi 2.’  She apologised that a verbal update had not been given at the meeting.

·                     A number of consultation processes had taken place, including feedback and consultation with the trade unions.  All alternative options had been considered and had been detailed in the report on a collective basis.

·                     She noted the ticket information provided by the bus drivers.  All of the journeys could be covered by alternative services e.g. Kimes and Call Connect.  School children were considered the top priority when developing the proposals and the Council had a duty to transport them.

·                     Officers had met with the Youth Council on a number of occasions around the Fares Fair campaign.  They had been invited to a bus operators meeting at which part of the meeting had been an update on the bus service review.  At no time had they asked for further information.  Even though they were not consulted directly on this issue they would have  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.