Agenda item

To consider any additional items exceptionally agreed by the Mayor as Urgent Business in accordance with the powers vested in him by virtue of Section 100(B)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

 

(This power should be exercised only in cases where there are genuinely special circumstances which require consideration of an item which has not previously been published on the Order of Business for the meeting.)

The Mayor advised Members that she had accepted a Motion on the subject of bus services for consideration as urgent business at the meeting due to the timeframes concerned in respect of the potential changes to bus services which would occur in some cases prior to the following Council meeting.

 

Bus Services

 

Councillor Bill Hartnett submitted the following Motion on Notice for Council’s consideration:

 

“Council notes the email sent by Diamond Buses to all Members dated 7^th June and the attached letter to the Department for Transport dated May 2022.

Council is also concerned at the announcement issued by Diamond Buses dated 16^th June 2022 which contains details of proposed withdrawal of services across Redditch from July and August 2022.

 

Council notes that the services on the withdrawal list will affect many Redditch Residents who rely on public transport to attend school, the Alexandra Hospital, the Town Centre and the wider cross Worcestershire area.

 

Council opposes the withdrawal of these services and believes that only a fully integrated and publicly subsidised transport service that meets the needs of our Community and meets it’s obligations towards a cleaner, greener and sustainable travel plan designed to reduce the reliance on car journeys.

 

Council, therefore, instructs the Leader of the Council to write to Diamond Buses outlining the Council’s opposition to the service cuts and further, convenes a Redditch wide public transport forum to include representatives of all political groups of the Council, Worcestershire County Council Cabinet Member responsible for Transport and invites members of the public with an interest in public transport.”

 

The Motion was proposed by Councillor Hartnett and seconded by Councillor Sid Khan.

 

In proposing the Motion, Councillor Hartnett commented that the withdrawal of bus services would have a detrimental impact in the local community.  A range of people used bus services in the Borough, including people travelling to work, school children and people attending medical appointments.  Use of public transport, instead of a reliance on using cars, helped to reduce carbon emissions in the Borough.  Demand and use of bus services in Redditch was the second highest in the county, when compared to other districts.  Concerns were raised about how people would undertake essential journeys should services be removed.  Council was also asked to note that this was likely to impact on residents living across the Borough and Councillor Hartnett drew Members’ attention to all of the wards through which the routes concerned travelled in order to highlight this point.

 

In seconding the Motion, Councillor Khan noted that local residents needed the Council’s support in relation to resisting the proposed changes to bus services.  A letter, setting out the concerns of all elected Members, would help to highlight the extent to which the Council took this situation seriously.  In seeking to resolve this issue, there was the potential to learn from other parts of the country, including Manchester.  Councillor Khan expressed the view that failure to act on this issue would result in Members failing local residents.  Unfortunately, some of the most vulnerable residents would be particularly negatively impacted by the proposals, including residents with physical disabilities who used bus services to attend medical appointments.

 

In responding to the Motion, the Leader commented that he had already written to Diamond Buses regarding this situation.  In addition, a forum, to be co-ordinated by Worcestershire County Council as the responsible lead authority for public transport, had already been established to review the proposed changes to bus services.  The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Highways and Transport would be inviting representatives of a range of partner organisations, including Redditch Borough Council, to participate in the work of this forum.  In the meantime, Members were urged to approach their County Councillors to highlight any concerns about changes to bus services that had been raised by local residents.

 

Members subsequently discussed the Motion in detail and in doing so noted that changes had been proposed to bus services on a number of occasions over the years and representatives of Redditch Borough Council had engaged in discussions with bus companies on previous occasions. Concerns were raised that, under recent proposals that had been made about changes to bus services in the Borough, 60 per cent of services to the Alexandra Hospital would be cut.  It was also suggested that changes to local bus services would have a negative impact on the local economy as well as on people’s ability to participate in leisure and social activities, which could impact on people’s mental health and wellbeing.

 

Reference was made to the scale of the proposed changes to bus services in Worcestershire and the extent to which the services in the Borough had been particularly impacted by these proposals.  Members noted that changes were being proposed to bus services across the region and this subject had been discussed at a recent meeting of the WMCA’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

 

During consideration of this item, an amendment was proposed to the wording of the Motion by Councillor Baker.  The amended wording of the Motion was as follows:

 

“Council notes the email sent by Diamond Buses to all Members dated 7^th June and the attached letter to the Department for Transport dated May 2022.

Council is also concerned at the announcement issued by Diamond Buses dated 16^th June 2022 which contains details of proposed withdrawal of services across Redditch from July and August 2022.

 

Council notes that the services on the withdrawal list will affect many Redditch Residents who rely on public transport to attend school, the Alexandra Hospital, the Town Centre and the wider cross Worcestershire area.

 

Council opposes the withdrawal of these services and believes that only a fully integrated and publicly subsidised transport service that meets the needs of our community and meets its obligations towards a cleaner, greener and sustainable travel plan designed to reduce the reliance on car journeys.

 

Council, therefore, instructs the Leader of the Council and the leader of the opposition to write to Diamond Buses outlining the Council’s opposition to the service cuts and further, convenes a Redditch wide public transport forum to include representatives of all political groups of the Council, Worcestershire County Council Cabinet Member responsible for Transport and invites members of the public with an interest in public transport.”

 

The amendment was proposed by Councillor Baker and seconded by Councillor Sharon Harvey.

 

Councillor Hartnett, as the proposer of the original Motion, confirmed that he would accept this amendment.

 

A further amendment was subsequently suggested to the wording of the Motion by Councillor Matthew Dormer, as detailed below:

 

“Council notes the email sent by Diamond Buses to all Members dated 7^th June and the attached letter to the Department for Transport dated May 2022.

Council is also concerned at the announcement issued by Diamond Buses dated 16^th June 2022 which contains details of proposed withdrawal of services across Redditch from July and August 2022.

 

Council notes that the services on the withdrawal list will affect many Redditch Residents who rely on public transport to attend school, the Alexandra Hospital, the Town Centre and the wider cross Worcestershire area.

 

Council opposes the withdrawal of these services and believes that only a fully integrated and publicly subsidised transport service that meets the needs of our community and meets its obligations towards a cleaner, greener and sustainable travel plan designed to reduce the reliance on car journeys.

 

Council, therefore, instructs the Leader of the Council and the leader of the opposition to write to Diamond Buses outlining the Council’s opposition to the service cuts.”

 

The amendment was proposed by Councillor Dormer and seconded by Councillor Brandon Clayton.

 

In proposing the amendment, Councillor Dormer explained that he would be happy to endorse a letter sent on behalf of himself, as the Leader, as well as the leader of the opposition, to Diamond Buses.  However, given Worcestershire County Council had already established a forum to consider the proposed changes to bus services, he commented that it would not be appropriate to support the proposal to establish another forum with the same focus to be co-ordinated by Redditch Borough Council.

 

Councillor Hartnett, as the proposer of the original Motion, confirmed that he would accept this amendment.

 

In accordance with Procedure Rule 17.5 a recorded vote was taken and the voting was as follows:

 

Members voting FOR the Motion:

 

Councillors Salman Akbar, Imran Altaf, Karen Ashley, Joe Baker, Tom Baker-Price, Joanne Beecham, Juma Begum, Juliet Brunner, Michael Chalk, Brandon Clayton, Matthew Dormer, Peter Fleming, Alex Fogg, Andrew Fry, Lucy Harrison, Bill Hartnett, Sharon Harvey, Joanna Kane, Sid Khan, Anthony Lovell, Emma Marshall, Nyear Nazir, Timothy Pearman, Gareth Prosser, David Thain and Craig Warhurst. (26)

 

Members voting AGAINST the Motion:

 

No Councillors (0).

 

Members ABSTAINING in the vote:

 

No councillors (0).

 

On being put to the vote the Motion was therefore carried.

 

RESOLVED that

 

Council notes the email sent by Diamond Buses to all Members dated 7^th June and the attached letter to the Department for Transport dated May 2022.  Council is also concerned at the announcement issued by Diamond Buses dated 16^th June 2022 which contains details of proposed withdrawal of services across Redditch from July and August 2022.

 

Council notes that the services on the withdrawal list will affect many Redditch Residents who rely on public transport to attend school, the Alexandra Hospital, the Town Centre and the wider cross Worcestershire area.

 

Council opposes the withdrawal of these services and believes that only a fully integrated and publicly subsidised transport service that meets the needs of our community and meets its obligations towards a cleaner, greener and sustainable travel plan designed to reduce the reliance on car journeys.

 

Council, therefore, instructs the Leader of the Council and the leader of the opposition to write to Diamond Buses outlining the Council’s opposition to the service cuts.