Agenda and minutes

There were no appeals against refusal of inspection of documents.

There were no exempt items.

There are no late items.

To disclose or draw attention to any interests in accordance with Leeds City Council’s ‘Councillor Code of Conduct’.

There were declarations of interest.

To receive any apologies for absence and notification of substitutes.

Apologies were received from Cllr Wilson (Cllr Rontree attended as a substitute) and Cllr Lay (Cllr Golton attended as a substitute).

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the ordinary meeting of the Scrutiny Board (Infrastructure, Investment and Inclusive Growth) held at 10.30am on 27 September 2023 and the minutes of the Call-In meeting held at 1.30pm on the same date. 

The Scrutiny Board approved the minutes of the ordinary meeting held at 10.30am on 27 September 2023 and the minutes of the call-in meeting held at 1.30pm on the same date.

In relation to minute 32 the Chair confirmed that letters had been sent to Mark Harper MP (Secretary of State for Transport), Louise Haigh MP (Shadow Secretary of State for Transport) and Iain Stewart (Transport Committee Chair) in relation to road deaths and injuries involving young people.

It was noted that Richard Holden MP had responded on behalf of Mark Harper MP but that this did not address the issues raised in the original correspondence.

Cllr Marshall-Katung and Cllr Hayden therefore agreed to write back to Richard Holden MP to reiterate their original concerns, and would seek the agreement of Dr Ian Greenwood to write jointly as in the first instance.

To receive an update from the Interim Director Mobility Services and Transformation (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) regarding the on-going activities by the Combined Authority to advance bus provision across West Yorkshire and Leeds.

The Chair noted that in recent years Scrutiny Board members have requested an annual update on the future of bus provision in the city and she highlighted the ongoing importance of bus provision to all communities councillors represent.

The Chair considered the increased importance of engagement with the Scrutiny Board in light of the challenges and opportunities facing the bus sector post pandemic, including new trends in patronage and bus revenues.

The Scrutiny Board noted that West Yorkshire Combined Authority is currently conducting a statutory consultation on proposed bus reform, which will run until January 2024.   

The following individuals attended the Scrutiny Board meeting for this item:

·  Cllr Helen Hayden (Executive Member)

·  Gary Bartlett (Chief Officer, Transportation & Highways)

·  Cllr Peter Carlill (Deputy Chair of WYCA Transport Committee)

·  Dave Haskins (WYCA Interim Director Transport Operations & Passenger Experience)

·  Rachel Jones (Interim Head of Mobility Services)

·  Dwayne Wells (Head of Commercial, Arriva)

·  Andrew Cullen (Managing Director, First Bus)

·  Kayleigh Ingham (Commercial Director, First Bus)

·  Brandon Jones (Head of External Relations, First Bus)

·  Paul Turner (Commercial Director, Transdev)

·  Andrew McGuiness (Regional Manager, Confederation of Passenger Transport UK)

·  Darren Rushworth (Regional Officer Unite the Union)

·  Andy Dyer (Branch Secretary Unite the Union)

Dave Haskins introduced a report produced by West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), noting that the process of reviewing and adapting networks post-pandemic is on-going. There remains some uncertainty as to whether travel behaviour changes will become permanent.

Members welcomed the “data rich report” that had been prepared for the meeting.

Dave noted that the bus network has reduced over the last decade but not to the extent of most other major conurbations including South Yorkshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester.

West Yorkshire has a consistently lower level of bus passenger journeys per head than England as a whole. The Scrutiny Board was informed that between June and September overall bus patronage was 78% of baseline levels.

Members sought more information about why disparities occur between real time information boards, transport apps and customer experience of local services. Dave Haskins acknowledged that real time information is an issue that is often raised by customers. WYCA and bus operators have been working collaboratively to remove inconsistencies from the system. Some of the technical challenges relating to providing real time data were outlined. In addition, manual changes are required in order to reflect rapid decision making where routes are not running on time or have to be cancelled.

Kayleigh Ingham noted the need for 5G technology on board buses to improve connectivity. She informed the Scrutiny Board that a trial of 5G technology has taken place at Stourton park and ride and does appear to have improved the reliability. However, significant investment will be required to roll that out to the whole fleet.  

The Scrutiny Board was informed that performance in relation to reliability and punctuality is below target. Scrutiny Board members queried whether this information could be broken down to provide more detail about localised performance – to identify potential ‘hot spots’ for delays or particularly  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

To consider the Scrutiny Board’s work schedule for the 2023/24 municipal year.

Members considered the draft work programme for 2023/24.

Members were also asked to note that an additional remote working group has been scheduled for 1 December 9.15am-10.15am. This will provide further opportunity to discuss the employment data held by the Council ahead of January’s meeting at which performance data will be discussed. 

The next public meeting of the Scrutiny Board (Infrastructure, Investment and Inclusive Growth) will be taking place at 10.30am on Friday 8 December. There will be a pre-meeting for all Board members at 10.15am.

The next meeting of the Scrutiny Board will take place on Friday 8 December 2023 at 10.30am. There will be a pre-meeting for all Board members at 10.15am