Agenda item

This report sets out a brief background to the item “Park and Ride Service Operator Procurement” which has been called in for pre-decision scrutiny ahead of consideration by the Executive at their meeting on 13 October 2016.  The report also outlines the options available to this committee under the agreed pre-decision call in arrangements.

Members received a report which set out a brief background to the issue called-in and the role of, and options available to, the Committee under the agreed pre-decision call-in arrangements.

In accordance with the arrangements for pre-decision scrutiny call-in, three Members (Councillors Craghill, D’Agorne and Kramm) had called in the item for the following reasons:

‘The park and ride service is a key component in our Local Transport Plan and in our policies for developing a sustainable transport system in York; it also plays a key part in our local economy, reducing congestion and underpinning sustainable access to employment, learning, retail and leisure opportunities, whilst having a key role in our public health objectives to reduce air pollution.

This item is presumably either to sign off or preparatory to signing off a contract for 8 years and is therefore an important opportunity to use this very attractive contract to influence sustainable and accessible public transport in the city – as such, we believe it should have full cross-party discussion in the light of the results of the procurement exercise before any decision is made.’

Councillor Craghill spoke on behalf of the call-in Members. She stated that they felt the committee should discuss the whole approach to the operation of the Park and Ride service. She suggested that clean buses were essential to meeting the Council’s commitment to Euro 6 emission standards and the 2012 Low Emission Strategy to become a Clean Air Zone by 2018.

She proposed the following changes could be made to the Park and Ride Service:

·        Zero emission vehicles in congested areas

·        Increasing passenger numbers by providing extra stops

·        Later running Thu – Sun with accompanying advertising

·        Overnight/weekend parking provision

·        Schemes to pay before you board and more discounts etc.

In response to Member questions Councillor Craghill stated:

·        It was felt by the call-in Members that the council were still in the negotiating period and that looking at tenders from a public health point of view was equally important as a financial one.

·        That, as York Park and Ride was one of the most successful in the country, it was unlikely that asking for such changes to the tender would mean that the service would cease altogether.

·        That although the call-in Members had no specific recommendations they wanted to see a high quality, frequent service alongside a maintenance/improvement in air quality.

The Executive Member for Planning and Transport spoke in response to the points made by the call-in Members. He stated that that none of the bidders for Park & Ride Services had met the Council’s procurement desires. He said this issue had already been discussed by the committee and that scrutiny requests had been considered as part of the procurement process. The Executive Member explained that, at this point in the process, he did not want to pre-empt discussion that would take place on this matter at the Executive meeting on 13 October 2016.

In response to Member questions the Executive Member clarified:

·        That, due to commercial confidentiality, Officers were unable to discuss why there were no tenders considered viable.

·        That this item had been called in to scrutinise the tender, however this was now redundant as there had been no compliant bids.

·        He reiterated that the onus was on the call-in Members to bring to the table everything they want included/amended.

Officers confirmed that the views of the Committee would be fed into a new report going to the Executive in December and updated Members on some of the issues raised at the meeting. They stated that:

·        No ‘compliant’ bids had been made for this tender. This meant that none had been both viable and within the necessary financial envelope.

·        Ultra Low Emission Vehicles were a ‘wish list’ item. The baseline for bids was to match the current level of service.

·        The key objective of the council was the ongoing provision of a successful park and ride service, as the single biggest impact on the environment in York was keeping cars off the road.

In response to further Member questions Officers clarified:

·        There had been strong expressions of interest from operators, however it was clear that flexibility was needed to make the service profitable.

·        Considerable research had been done into other Park and Ride models and none match York in terms of operation. York had been in a strong position for many years.

·        It was expected that 40 new buses would be provided over the 8 year contract period.

·        The contract currently brings in revenue of £800K. This was reduced to zero for this tender, so a bid could have been compliant at 1p. It would then have been up to Members to decide if that was feasible in terms of the council budget.

Officers also took the opportunity to thank First Group for agreeing to a contract extension, without which York would have been left without Park and Ride provision.

Members considered the following options:

That they;

1.   Make specific recommendations to the Executive on

the report, in light of the reasons given for the pre-decision call-in. If this option is chosen, comments will be considered by the Executive at a meeting to be held on 13 October.

2.   Agree that there are no grounds to make specific recommendations to the Executive in respect of the report.

Resolved:  Members agree that there are no grounds to make specific recommendations to the Executive.

Reason:     To provide scrutiny’s views on the report ahead of it

                   being presented to the Executive.