Agenda and minutes

To confirm the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Task Group – Public Transport Issues held on 26 February 2015 (enclosed)

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Task Group – Public Transport Issues meeting held on 26 February 2015 be confirmed as a correct record.

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any pecuniary interest in respect of matters contained in this agenda.

If you have a pecuniary interest you must withdraw from the meeting. Normally you should leave the room before the business starts to be discussed. You do, however, have the same right to speak as a member of the public and may remain in the room to enable you to exercise that right and then leave immediately. In either case you must not seek to improperly influence a decision on the matter.

There were no declarations of any interests.

Councillor Guy Harkin, Vice Chair of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee and Chair of the Capital Projects and Policy Sub-Committee (Greater Manchester Combined Authority) and Rod Fawcett, Transport Manager (Greater Manchester Combine Authority) will be present at the meeting to answer questions of the Group (enclosed)

The Group welcomed Councillor Guy Harkin and Rod Fawcett from Transport for Greater Manchester that had come to talk about the work of the Combined Authority with regards to public transport in Greater Manchester.

Greater Manchester currently has around 2.7 million residents that was still growing and had increased by 20% over the past five years. Situated within the heart of the north, the city has seen huge economic growth and has further potential that exceeds all other UK city regions. There are ten local authorities across the political spectrum working collectively together that includes both metropolitan and unitary authorities. They have a long tradition of working together across many modes of transport that include an airport and Metrolink system.

The city of Manchester is centre of innovation, education, industry and culture and is home to a diverse set of assets that include:

·         MediaCityUK

·         Four universities, as well as other higher education institutes

·         Manchester Airport

·         Diverse private sector and service sector (especially financial and professional), creative and digital, health, retail, construction, manufacturing and logistics.

·         World class international sporting venues – Old Trafford, Etihad, Velodrome and Lancashire County Cricket ground

·         Urban and rural tourist/leisure destinations from museums to moor and is the 3^rd most visited centre in the UK.

The city region contributes £49bn to the UK economy and their main competitors come from European city regions as Manchester falls within the top 20% of the largest EU city region economies by gross value added (GVA).

Greater Manchester was the first UK Combined Authority that consists of 10 local authorities across the political spectrum working together to deliver sustainable economic growth. Based on a previous long-term foundation of consensus, stability, consistency and commitment between the authorities that has pioneered a ‘city region’ concept.

This new type of statutory body, allows governance of key policy agendas at the right spatial scale. The Parliamentary Order 2011 was made in order to develop a strategy that could compete with other European cities by having stable and consensus governance arrangements in place. This new type of statutory body allows for the governance of key policy agendas at the right spatial scale and would be followed by more devolution in due course. Greater Manchester is building long term consensus and has a strategy in place called Stronger Together which is a shared vision without the need for bureaucracy.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) comprises one elected member from each constituent body, usually the Leader and meets in public on the last Friday of each month. It has a Scrutiny Committee consisting of three members from each authority. All big transport decisions are made by the GMCA, for example the levy, big schemes and the Local Transport Plan but are advised by the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee which does have a fair degree of delegated authority. There was an acceptance by the larger dominant authorities to only to take one vote on the GMCA and it was explained how the different authorities had forged  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.22

To agree a date for the next meeting of the Task Group and next steps to be taken.

At the next meeting of the Group that was scheduled to take place on 23 April 2015 it was agreed to look at the level of passenger information available at the Chorley Interchange and on the Lancashire County Council website.

Further attempts would be made to invite a representative from the Chorley and South Ribble Disability Forum and Dial a Ride to that meeting and views would be sought from the Parish Councils across the borough.

To consider the exclusion of the press and public for the following items of business on the ground that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

By Virtue of Paragraph 3: Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

RESOLVED - To exclude the press and public for the following items of business on the ground that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

To consider the responses received from Network Rail and Northern Rail to the rail travel issues in Chorley.

A response from Northern Rail is enclosed.

The Group received a response to their letter on rail issues from Northern Rail. The response was more positive that had been anticipated and Members were hopeful that there would be improvements made in the near future.