Agenda item

(Cabinet Member with Special Responsibility Councillor Mace)

Report of the Chief Executive.

(Cabinet Member with Special Responsibility Councillor Mace)

(Mr Blears, who had registered to speak on this item in accordance with the City Council’s agreed procedure and Cabinet Procedure Rule 2.7, spoke to this item on behalf of Lune Valley Transport).

The Chief Executive submitted a report to determine whether there should be changes in the provision of Community Transport for NoWcard holders within the Lancaster City Council district.

The options, options analysis, including risk assessment for Community Transport and Service Level Agreement, were set out in the report as follows:

Community Transport

Option 1 – No change to the present service provided by Lune Valley Transport. Under this option financial commitment may rise in future years due to the continued increase in demand for the service. The increase in costs will depend to a large degree on the level of contract and hire work achieved by the present operator.

Option 2 – Restrict the use of Community Transport to either the disabled only or to include in the restriction those over 60s who live in “hard to reach areas”. With this option, many of the over 60s may move to the standard Concessionary Fare Scheme resulting in an additional cost to the Council under this budget area, however, this would reflect the true costs of this service.  There may be other issues arising, linked to the extent of the reduction in operation.

Option 3 – Achieve a % reduction, as determined by Cabinet, in agreement with the Lancashire County Council Community Transport Team and Lune Valley Transport. The reduction could be achieved by capping the number of single journeys claimed or setting a budget amount for Lune Valley at the beginning of each financial year.  There would be practicalities attached to adopting this approach, however.

Option 4 – Introduce a half fare charge for all journeys made by the over 60s and disabled who use Lune Valley Transport. This charge is already in operation in Burnley, Pendle and Blackpool.

Option 5 – Remove the provision of Community Transport within the Lancaster City Council district. The saving made by this option will be approximately £156,000 in 2009/10, increasing to £164,000 in 2010/11 and £172,000 in 2011/12. It is likely the removal of Community Transport will result in numerous complaints and a potential backlash against the removal of the means of “social inclusion” for the disabled and those isolated from the public transport network. There could also be implications for Lune Valley Transport as an organisation affecting their drivers, employees, etc. Also, there is a further risk that many of the over 60s would move to the standard Concessionary Fare Scheme and in so doing add an additional cost to the Council in a different budget.

Service Level Agreement

Option 1 – Continue with an SLA between Lancaster City Council and Lune Valley Transport. A continuation of the SLA would result in a financial commitment of £3,300 per year.

Option 2 – Discontinue the SLA with Lune Valley Transport. In removing the SLA there would be no guarantee that the provision of the service (as set in section 4 of the report) would continue.

Community Transport officer preferred option:

Option 5 – Discontinue providing funding for a Community Transport Scheme within the Lancaster City District. This will clearly make a saving but extra costs will be born by the Concessionary Travel  budget by the over 60s and disabled moving over to use standard bus services.

Service Level Agreement officer preferred option:

Option 2 – Discontinue with the Service Level Agreement as above.

The meeting adjourned at 10.18am and reconvened at 10.40am.

It was moved by Councillor Barry and seconded by Councillor Archer:

“(1)      That the Service Level Agreement between Lancaster City Council and Lune Valley Transport continue.”

Members then voted as follows:

Resolved unanimously:

(1)     That the Service Level Agreement between Lancaster City Council and Lune Valley Transport continue.

By way of addendum, it was moved by Councillor Barry and seconded by Councillor Mace:

“(2)      That a flat fare charge of £1.30 per journey be introduced, to be fed into the budget proposals for 2009/10.”

By way of amendment, which was not accepted as a friendly amendment by the mover of the original proposition, Councillor Gilbert proposed and Councillor Blamire seconded:

“(3)      That the flat fare charge be waived for disabled service users.”

2 Members (Councillors Blamire and Gilbert) voted in favour of the amendment, 6 Members voted against (Councillors Archer, Barry, Bryning, Burns, Charles and Mace) and 1 Member (Councillor Kerr) abstained from voting, whereupon the Chairman declared the amendment to be lost.

Resolved:

(7 Members (Councillors Archer, Barry, Burns, Charles, Gilbert, Kerr and Mace) voted in favour, 1 Member (Councillor Blamire) voted against and 1 Member (Councillor Bryning) abstained)

(2)        That a flat fare charge of £1.30 per journey be introduced, to be fed into the budget proposals for 2009/10.

Officers responsible for effecting the decision:

Corporate Director (Regeneration)

Reasons for making the decision:

The introduction of a charge for each journey will allow the Community Transport service provision to continue but with the introduction of a fare.