Agenda item

(Report by County Transportation Manager)

(1)       The report outlined the provisions in the recently published draft Local Transport Bill and their implications for Kent.  The Bill was intended to help tackle congestion and improve public transport.  The consultation would close on 7 September.

(2)       Many of the measures proposed were aimed at major urban areas or modified provisions in the Transport Act 2000 that local authorities had not chosen or been able to use.  The legislation was also updated to allow local authorities to take forward local road pricing schemes should they choose.  The proposals most relevant to Kent were those that:-

·                    provided new powers enabling local authorities in non-Metropolitan areas to set up Passenger Transport Authorities (PTAs).

·                    made the implementation of Quality Contracts with public transport operators a realistic option in areas where it was in the public interest for local authorities to take greater control over bus services.  This could provide a mechanism to secure the delivery of Smartlink in Ashford and future phases of Fastrack in Kent Thameside.

·                    provided a new regime to deliver improved bus punctuality, holding local authorities as well as bus operators to account for their contribution to punctuality performance.  Local Authorities were required to provide the Traffic Commissioner with information connected with the performance of their network management duties under the Traffic Management Act 2004 (TMA). Should Kent be found not to be identifying and addressing the causes of poor punctuality the Secretary of State might choose to issue an Intervention Notice under the TMA.

·                    supported further development of the community transport sector than was currently permitted.  Kent had a mix of such community transport schemes across the county and this should ease the development of new and expanded schemes and would provide an opportunity to review the provision of services to rural areas.

(3)       Whilst the elements of the draft legislation set out above had the potential to be of use to Kent, and would feature in the response to the consultation, most of the proposals related more to large metropolitan areas.  Indeed Kent was already making good progress with delivering improvements to bus services through voluntary Quality Bus Partnerships with operators.  In contrast to much of the country, Kent had managed to sustain a year on year 2% growth in bus patronage.  In 2005/06 there were 45.7 million trips made in Kent and in 2006/07 there were 47.1 million trips.  Members would be aware of Fastrack in Kent Thameside where passenger numbers were 50% over projections and included 19% of people who would have previously used their car.   There were similar examples in Thanet and Canterbury. This would form the basis of the response to Government.  In the context of the developing Kent Thameside and Ashford areas, consideration would be given to the potential benefits of applying for PTA status in order to access additional Government funding.

(4)       Given the timing of the consultation, where responses were being asked for by 7 September, the Board agreed that a response, along the lines of that set out above, be produced and sent to the DfT under delegated powers.