Agenda item

·       To receive an update from the Devizes Air Quality and Sustainable Transport Steering Group.

·       To approve the revised Terms of Reference for the group.

·       To receive an update from Jason Salter, Head of Service Passenger Transport.

Cllr Richard Gamble, Chairman of the Air Quality & Sustainable Transport Group gave an update to the meeting. A positive meeting had been held on 15 December 2020 and thanks was passed on to all attendees.

Cllr Gamble reported that air quality data continued to be favourable in almost all locations. The Air Quality Action Plan was being updated across the county using Aecom consultants and the group would be feeding into that process.

The group looked at the amount of Section 106 funds held for the area for public transport and for other sustainable transport purposes and noted that the Town Council had some material funds from the Community Infrastructure Levy.

Cllr Gamble proposed 3 motions: that the minutes of the AQST be noted; that the revised Terms of Reference (on page 37 of the agenda) be approved and that the board confirm an additional £10,000 of the s106 money be allocated towards the Outline Strategic Business Case for Devizes Gateway Station as a contingency. All motions were seconded by Cllr Peter Evans, and voted on separately, it was:

Resolved:

·       To note the minutes of the AQST meeting held on 15 December 2020.

·       To approve the revised Terms of Reference of the Devizes Air Quality and Sustainable Transport Steering Group.

·       To approve that an additional £10,000 of s106 funds be allocated towards the Outline Strategic Business Case for Devizes Gateway Station as a contingency.

Cllr Gamble announced that the next meeting of the AQST group would be held on 16 February 2021 via MS Teams.

The Chairman invited Jason Salter, Head of Service Passenger Transport to give an update to the meeting.

Jason Salter explained that bus services were running at about 30% of normal patronage and the bus industry as a whole was being largely subsidised by government grants.

It was confirmed that the Devizes Town Service was not ceasing. The contract with the previous operator had come to an end and therefore was put out to tender. A new operator, Faresaver, would start running the service on 1 March 2021 with a schedule identical to the current timetable. The contract had been awarded for 2 years which was shorter than usual. The Passenger Transport Unit were also looking at how buses could be used in the future to support transporting people to and from the Devizes Gateway Station.

The officer stated that there was over £500,000 of s106 money available, but the pandemic situation made it difficult to plan long term. A consultation on how to best spend these funds would be undertaken later in the year. The urgent care medical centre in Marshall Road should be opening in 2022 and it was confirmed that appropriate public transport would serve the site.

Better Deal for Buses had awarded Wiltshire Council £671,000 in March 2020 towards enhancing services or restoring lost bus services. A consultation had been undertaken last Spring, but another consultation would be undertaken to ensure that requirements had not changed. A direct bus service from Devizes to Marlborough was under consideration as was a faster, improved service from Devizes to Salisbury.

As part of the Better Deal for Buses scheme Wiltshire Council had put in a demand responsive bid for approximately £1 million towards bringing services up to date and modernisation, however they had yet to hear the results of the bid.

The Government had stated that the Passenger Transport Unit were now able to use some of the £671,000 awarded to support services hit by COVID-19, where the commercial service had stopped. The National Bus Strategy should be out late in the Spring and this would be a key driver for the future of the industry.

In response to questions the officer stated that bus service provisions would be considered under the transport elements of the Local Plan. Mr Salter stated that he would catch up with colleagues regarding this and report back to Cllr Gamble.

A member of the audience, Noel Woolrych stated that there was now a survey available regarding the Devizes Gateway project and encouraged people to take part at: https://www.devizes.org.uk/index.php/devizes-gateway/devizes-gateway-online-survey.html.

A further comment from an attendee, Jasper Selwyn, was received stating that he was pleased that the Devizes Town Service contract had only been awarded for 2 years. It was hoped that the service could be thoroughly reviewed then. Mr Selwyn felt that the circular route was not ideal. Mr Selwyn also highlighted that the Lay Wood Development had no public transport and it was hoped that s106 monies could be used to provide a service there. Mr Salter stated that the team hoped to resolve the Lay Wood issue in the summer.

The Chairman thanked everyone for their contributions. 

Cllr Laura Mayes left the meeting at 7.30pm.