Contacts: Kevin Ings, ext 6986 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 A sum of £300,000 has been allocated from the Local Transport Plan (LTP) to support the provision and development of community transport services in Hampshire in 2006/07. This report outlines the programme for utilising this money.

2. Background

2.1 A review of community transport schemes in Hampshire was undertaken in 1999. One particular issue identified was that of future vehicle funding arrangements. If schemes are to continue to offer accessible vehicles at affordable rates, thus enhancing social inclusion, there is a need to provide assistance to meet increasing capital costs. These vehicles generally offer older, disabled and younger people the opportunity to access a range of services and facilities within their local community.

2.2 The need to develop the community transport sector was identified in both the Passenger Transport Group and cross-cutting transport Best Value Review action plans. The need for a strategic approach towards supporting the sector is also set out in the Accessible Transport Strategy which has been adopted by the County and District Councils and many other organisations in Hampshire.

2.3 Previous work has recommended a framework for the future development and funding of community transport in Hampshire. This involved developing a needs assessment which has determined what the baseline level of community transport provision should be in each district of Hampshire, together with the required levels of resources and funding. Without this level of investment community transport schemes will in time be unable to maintain their current levels of activity at an affordable price and this will have a detrimental effect on the overall transport network in Hampshire.

3. The Role of Community Transport in Hampshire

3.1 This continued support will help to provide a more secure basis for the future funding of community transport schemes, enabling them to sustain and develop their services whilst supporting the LTP objectives of accessibility and social inclusion. Services provided by community transport schemes include group hire, dial-a-ride, wheels to work schemes and shopping trip services for older and disabled people. The sector is well placed to make a key contribution towards enhancing accessibility and reducing isolation, particularly in rural areas, for those people or families who do not have access to their own transport. Where such facilities can be targeted at youth to access recreational and leisure facilities then this could also help to reduce incidences of vandalism.

3.2 The sector also has a part to play in providing services that complement the public transport network which the County Council supports. The Best Value transport reviews have identified a clear role for the community transport sector in supplying local transport services. This sector has the potential to provide services in areas and at times when it may not be feasible or cost-effective to provide a conventional bus service, thus helping to sustain present travel opportunities whilst making use of alternative approaches.

3.3 In addition many of these alternative approaches will be provided with smaller vehicles, thus reducing vehicle impact on the environment. The demand-responsive nature of some services, particularly where these provide a door-to-door transport service, could also offer some reassurance to those people who may have concerns about personal safety on conventional public transport. Supporting the opportunities for more group transport movements may also potentially lead to lower car usage.

3.4 The role of community transport services is being considered as part of the ongoing series of district by district comprehensive public transport reviews which are underway and the Review of Transport in the Community which has been requested by Members.

4. Funding Programme

4.1 A sum of £300,000 is available from the LTP to support the provision and development of community transport services in the county. This funding will be used in the following way.

Vehicle Grants

4.2 Grants will be provided to individual community transport schemes to assist with the purchase of accessible vehicles. The allocation of grants to community transport schemes is being based on the following guiding principles:

(i) Previous work which has determined what the baseline level of community transport provision should be in each area. This, among other things, proposes the number of vehicles that should be available in each district council area. In some cases this means that grants will be used to introduce new vehicles to meet these levels, whilst in other cases they will be used to replace current vehicles in order to ensure the sustainability of existing community transport schemes.

(ii) Where existing vehicles are replaced the current age/mileage profile and condition of the vehicle fleet currently owned by community transport schemes in Hampshire is used. Data has been gathered from each of the schemes and recommendations for vehicle replacement are based on those minibuses which are approaching the end of their economic life as assessed by a combination of age, mileage, general condition and suitability.

(iii) The opportunities to develop the community transport sector as a whole. For example, there has been a particular emphasis on developing schemes in some of the more underdeveloped rural areas through the later part of this funding programme, eg Test Valley, Hart.

(iv) As many schemes as possible should benefit, particularly those which had received little support through previous replacement programmes.

(v) Generally schemes would receive up to 75% of the costs of replacing existing mini-buses. Where new vehicles are being provided to extend vehicle fleets then these will be funded at full cost on the first occasion with subsequent replacements being funded at 75%.

4.3 Using the guiding principles outlined in 4.2 above the following schemes will receive financial support towards the cost of purchasing vehicles under the LTP capital funding programme for 2006/07:

Scheme Number Guiding

of Vehicles Principles

Eastleigh Voluntary Transport 1 (i), (ii)

Scheme

Hart Voluntary Action 2 (i), (ii), (iii)

(including YelaBus)

Havant Council of Community 1 (i), (iii)

Service

4.4 A table showing the current numbers of vehicles allocated to schemes throughout the county is attached as an appendix. The above vehicles will be purchased and owned by the nominated schemes following grant awards from the County Council. The exact amount provided to each scheme will be clarified once the individual organisations have undergone a tendering exercise, where this is required.

4.5 The operating cost of the vehicles once purchased will be covered by the community transport schemes themselves. The costs will be recovered through hire charges to organisations using the vehicles and income from contracts for providing specific services. This will recover some of the future vehicle replacement costs, although the majority will need further funding in other years. Priorities will continue to be established from the work previously undertaken.

5. Other Proposed Capital Expenditure

5.1 It is expected that the vehicle grants proposed will require an allocation of approximately £220,000, depending on the tenders and quotations sought by the individual schemes. This leaves a balance of £80,000 from the £300,000 allocated to community transport. It is proposed that this balance be used to support the capital costs of a range of community transport initiatives in progress, comprising:

(i) New schemes: the series of district-based Area Reviews of bus services and community transport provision is resulting in proposals to replace some bus services with community transport initiatives. These will require pump-priming injections of capital funding.

(ii) Community transport developments: two studies are in progress to rationalise community transport provision in Fareham/ Gosport and Basingstoke and Deane. Some one-off costs will be incurred in the resulting rationalisation.

5.2 District-wide passenger transport reviews have now been undertaken in several parts of the county. These reviews have considered both bus and community transport services. In essence they have sought to develop proposals which find the right balance between providing people with necessary journey opportunities whilst managing the passenger transport budget in the face of rising prices.

5.3 There is a need therefore to ensure that services which are supported are delivered in the most effective and cost efficient ways. In the less populated rural areas this is likely to mean a much greater role for taxi schemes, community transport and demand responsive transport services.

5.4 In two of the review areas, East Hampshire and Hart, this has resulted in the proposals to replace existing bus services with demand responsive transport. These services could be better tailored towards the needs of individual passengers because they are more flexible and offer a fully accessible service. They would also offer a saving over the existing expenditure.

5.5 These demand responsive services would be provided with either smaller minibuses or multiple passenger vehicles, the purchase of which would be financed through the available funding and then either operated by a commercial or community transport provider under a contract or service agreement.

5.6 The County Council has been working with consultants to develop community transport services in two areas of the county. In Basingstoke a review of the local dial-a-ride service and the community transport scheme has led to a proposal for these two organisations to be merged into one organisation. The economies of scale which should be achieved through this would result in increased service capacity for users and a more coordinated approach to community transport in the Basingstoke area in the future. This approach has synergy with the aspirations which Members have expressed through initial meetings regarding the Review of Transport in the Community. However, for this to progress then there are a number of one-off infrastructure costs which would need to be funded and it is proposed that these should be met from this year's allocation.

5.7 In Fareham and Gosport work has been underway to investigate the feasibility of setting up a community transport project to cover both areas. Currently, Fareham is fairly well provided for whilst the provision in Gosport, which does not currently have a district-wide community transport scheme, is much poorer. Rather than set up a scheme in Gosport, the possibility of extending the Fareham scheme is being investigated. This could absorb some of the ad hoc minibus facilities which exist in Gosport. This approach would again seem to be consistent with Members' desires to improve vehicle coordination and would again need some initial infrastructure and development costs to be funded through this year's allocation.

6. Service Agreements

6.1 Utilisation of the new vehicles purchased by community transport schemes will be covered under the terms of new service agreements. This will ensure that vehicles comply with all necessary legal and safety requirements and are used in a manner which is compatible with the overall objectives set out in the Community Transport Strategy.

6.2 The service agreement will also cover those situations where either the organisation is disbanded or if the vehicle is disposed of and not replaced. In these instances the County Council would be entitled to and be paid a percentage of the resale value which is equivalent to the percentage of the original vehicle price which the County Council provided. The agreement will also outline the process for addressing situations where vehicles are not being used in a manner which contributes to the overall objectives set out in the Community Transport Strategy. Conditions will also apply to other grants provided through the programme.

7. Impact Assessments

7.1 The vehicles operated by community transport schemes are generally available to all bonafide voluntary and community groups in their area of operation.

Recommendations

1. That the Community Transport Vehicles programme, as set out below, at an estimated sum of £300,000, be approved from the 2006/07 Local Transport Plan funding programme to assist the purchase of four community transport vehicles which will be deployed across the county as follows:

Eastleigh Voluntary Transport Scheme 1 vehicle

Hart Voluntary Action (including YelaBus) 2 vehicles

Havant Council of Community Service 1 vehicle

2. That the monies also be used to pump-prime the introduction of replacement services proposed through the passenger transport area reviews and used to assist the implementation of community transport initiatives in Basingstoke, Fareham and Gosport.

547Rpt/KI

APPENDIX

CURRENT PROVISION OF COMMUNITY TRANSPORT MINIBUSES

Notes: The number of community transport vehicles operating in each district varies and in many cases these represent the ways in which services have developed historically. The process of enabling a more equitable balance of vehicles is dependent on the appropriate infrastructure (capacity within the local community transport scheme) and resources (drivers) being available. The programme of Area Reviews of Public Transport will contribute to this process.

Some of these vehicles are used on contract hire/service provision and currently not available at these times for general community use. The vehicles operated by Gosport Disability Trust can only be used by older and disabled people and are not available for general community use.