Archived decisions

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Executive Decision Record

1. The following decisions were made:

a) That approval be given to award tenders for new four year bus subsidy contracts for the Fareham/Gosport area, up to a cost of £695,160 per annum (subject to the negotiations in recommendation c) which will result in the continuation of vital local bus services.

b) That authority be delegated to the Director of Environment to negotiate retention of any journey which it is proposed to curtail (to meet value for money criteria or to stay within affordable budget limits) which may be requested by Gosport Borough Council following its meeting on 24 November 2009 subject to any additional cost being met by the Borough Council.

c) That authority be delegated to the Director of Environment to negotiate, after award, with the successful tenderer on three contracts for which only one tenderer has supplied prices, and which in their original format do not meet value for money criteria as set out in the exempt section of this report.

2. Reason for the decision:

2.1 The current Fareham/Gosport area bus contracts expire on 5 December 2009. The decision will enable the continued provision of local bus services which give access to employment, education, health, retail and leisure facilities for the widest section of the community and which are affordable within the available budget. The additional delegated negotiations will obtain revised timetables which better match demand and so enable services to be maintained for an area which would suffer hardship if services were withdrawn.

3. Other options considered and rejected:

3.1. The review of services considered a number of options for delivering local services, including community transport options, however the volume of passengers recorded on the services would exceed the capacity of Community Transport alternatives.

3.2. Return developer contributions to the developers of Royal Clarence Yard. First Group withdrew the commercial service 29/30 in August 2009 following the realignment of health services from Haslar Hospital to the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham. Service 29/30 is currently funded from Royal Clarence Yard developer contributions, collected solely for the provision of new or enhanced local bus services. The service 29/30 provides vital transport links for Royal Clarence Yard and Alverstoke residents to the Gosport Ferry. If the developer contribution was not used this would have to be returned to the developer, creating a budget pressure of £83,000 on the public transport budget.

3.3. Withdraw funding from the bus contracts leaving local residents without access to vital local bus services.

4. Conflicts of interest:

4.1. Conflicts of interest declared by the decision-maker: none.

4.2. Conflicts of interest declared by other Executive Members consulted: none.

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee: none.

6. Reason(s) for the matter being dealt with if urgent: not applicable.

7. Statement from the Decision Maker:

2214Decn/1031/SW