Agenda item

Councillor S J Conboy, Executive Leader to present on the activities of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.

Councillors M A Hassall and J Neish to provide an update on the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Councillor S J Corney to provide an update on the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Audit and Governance Committee.

Decision summaries for recent meetings of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Audit and Governance Committee and Board are attached to the Agenda for information.

In accordance with the Protocol agreed at the February 2017 meeting, this item provides an opportunity for District Council Members to ask questions and comment on Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority issues.

If Members wish to raise questions or issues requiring a detailed response, it would be helpful if they can provide prior notice so that the necessary information can be obtained in advance of the meeting.

With the assistance of a PowerPoint presentation and the decision summaries of the previous meeting (copies of which are appended in the Minute Book), the Executive Leader Councillor S J Conboy presented an update of the activities of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. 

In doing so, the Council were advised of the availability of a new monthly highlights report which was a new reporting feature to the Combined Authority and recommended it to those who were seeking a general update on their key activities.

The Council were informed that the Board was continuing to work with the Independent Board to look at how to improve and develop the Combined Authority and the Executive Leader wished to place on record her appreciation to the previous Chair Sir Bob Kerslake who had recently passed away. 

Members were advised that developments within the political world continued to move at pace and there was talk of new devolution deals across the Combined Authorities and the Elected Mayors. Whilst there was little detail yet, further information was expected shortly to enable decisions to be made.

Attention was drawn to the development of the Local Transport and Connectivity Plan. Despite the original report starting from a premise that all areas had bus routes this assumption had now been made clear. The Executive Leader had met today with officers who are looking at how routes map geographically to demonstrate where services exist, where they don’t and where there were potential opportunities.  She reiterated that there may be some sensitive and challenging decisions ahead but wanted to work with councillors in affected areas to understand how and when services were used and opportunities for improvements.

In response to a request for an update from Councillor J Neish on the A141 St Ives Transport Strategy which appeared to have stalled, the Executive Leader undertook to establish the current status of the Strategy.

Councillor D J Shaw took the opportunity to raise the issues being experienced by Brampton residents with the 66 Whippet Bus Services, specifically the non-operation of services with no notice. Having been asked to raise the matter with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority who commissioned the service, the Executive Leader undertook to do so. Whilst she was not aware of the specific circumstances surrounding that route, all Members who encountered difficulties with CPCA commissioned services were encouraged to make any issues known so that they could be addressed. 

In response to a question from Councillor J A Gray concerning when the Code of Conduct issues at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority were likely to be concluded, the Executive Leader reported that she did not have a definitive answer but expected this to be fairly shortly. From the advice that she had received, the Executive Leader was told that Cambridgeshire and Peterborough were being considered as equal partners to all others in any potential devolution process. The real challenge for the authority would be to find common ground and to identify those areas behind which all the partners could unite. She genuinely believed that by finding that common ground, that was the way that Huntingdonshire could collectively get the best out of what’s on offer.

Councillor S Ferguson referred to a recent map he had seen plotting bus departures across all districts within the County Council area. In doing so, he outlined his surprise that many areas of Huntingdonshire had much worse bus connectivity than Fenland, East South Cambridgeshire. This indicated that the District had a much lower base position than these areas and this should be reflected within the representations made to the CPCA.

The Executive Leader agreed that one of the challenges that officers would face in making recommendations to the Combined Authority would be to look at the distribution and frequency of services both in a way that was fair and equitable and in way that takes in account things which are specific to each area. There were areas of Huntingdonshire that were badly served or didn’t join together in a useful way and there would be an opportunity to address some of these issues as part of the process. She urged all Members to help her and officers at the CPCA understand what works locally and why so that any future changes genuinely support communities.

With reference to the Local Transport and Connectivity Plan, Councillor B Pitt  suggested that Ting and demand responsive services offered a solution to the challenge of not knowing what journeys people wanted to make and when and encouraged the Executive Leader to keep this as a potential option in her conversations and to carefully view the pilot results. Councillor West outlined his view that consideration ought to be given to the greater use of Community Transport and the Executive Leader remarked that she had already raised the potential to make better use of some of the services currently in existence and to think broader than our traditional sphere in thinking about travel and who delivers what. 

In response to a request for an update on discussions surrounding bus franchising, the Executive Leader explained that she anticipated that discussions would take place in the Autumn as to what is franchised and when. It was likely that some tough decisions would need to be made at this time and she would welcome views from all Members on those services which might be ripe for reconfiguration.

With the assistance of a PowerPoint presentation (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) Councillors M A Hassall and J Neish provided an update on the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

In so doing, the Council were informed that the Committee had discussed the Mayoral priorities for the forthcoming year and the impact of the appointment of the new Chief Executive Officer. Members were advised that it was expected that the franchising approach and bus service improvement plan would be considered in the Autumn and Members assistance in this regard was requested.

The Committee had also discussed the potential co-option of an independent member; however, it had decided against this at the current time.

Finally, Members were provided with an update on the details of the two meeting of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Audit and Governance Committee by Councillor S J Corney. The Committee had discussed a range of issues including the results of a recent staff survey and it was hoped that the outstanding Code of Conduct issues overshadowing the Authority would be dealt with in July, Unlike the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the Audit and Governance Committee has requested that officers investigate the co-option of an independent member on a trial basis.