The delivery of the Leicestershire Bus Service Improvement Plan (to the extent possible within funding constraints) will be driven by a formal ‘Enhanced Partnership’ (EP) between the council and Leicestershire bus operators. We will put this in place before the end of March 2022. The partnership will be led by an ‘Enhanced Partnership Board’ formed of representatives of the council, bus operators and non-voting district councils within Leicestershire.
Forum
The Enhanced Partnership will also include opportunity through a broad ‘Enhanced Partnership Forum’ for a wide range of other stakeholders to provide input and suggestions on how the Bus Service Improvement Plan should best be implemented. These include:
- a Leicestershire bus user group (to be formed)
- community transport operators in Leicestershire
- neighbouring local transport authorities
- train operating companies serving stations in Leicestershire
- East Midlands Airport
- Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership and
- other organisations that have an interest in Leicestershire’s bus services.
Enhanced Partnership Plan and Scheme
To form the Enhanced Partnership, we have to make an Enhanced Partnership Plan and Enhanced Partnership Scheme (these are formal legal documents available to download below). The initial Enhanced Partnership Scheme will be a simple relatively low-cost first step, as funding to be made available by government to deliver the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) isn't yet known. This first scheme can in due course be extended in scope and ambition, and additional schemes can be introduced in line with the Bus Service Improvement Plan, once the Enhanced Partnership is in formal operation and funding availability becomes clear.
The initial Enhanced Partnership Scheme involves:
- a county-wide requirement for bus operators to only introduce service changes on specific agreed dates (there will be exemptions to this requirement for some services that come into the county from other local authority areas). This will help make the Leicestershire bus network simpler to understand.
- us carrying out an audit of bus stops in the B4114 corridor (a section of Narborough Road South) to the south-west of Leicester, and providing improved facilities within that corridor. Operators of bus services in this corridor will be required by 1 April 2024 to use only vehicles that meet, as a minimum, the Euro VI emissions standard.
Notice of Enhanced Partnership Plan and Scheme
In the matter of the Bus Services Act 2017 and The Transport Act 2000 S138g (5)
Leicestershire County Council [LTA]
Notice that Leicestershire County Council have made an Enhanced Partnership Plan and Scheme
Leicestershire County Council’s Cabinet gave approval to proceed with the development of an Enhanced Partnership (EP), which was confirmed through the issue of a notice of intent in June 2021, as required and set out in section 138F of the Transport Act 2000.
An EP is an agreement that enables Local Authorities and Operators to set shared aims with regard to improving bus services. The Enhanced Partnership Plan will cover the entire geographical area of Leicestershire County Council.
Notice that an Enhanced Partnership Plan and Scheme have been prepared was issued on 8th December 2021. Qualifying local bus operators were given the right to object to the Plan and/or Scheme, in accordance with this notice. As no qualifying objections were received, a period of consultation followed, the results of which have now been published.
Leicestershire County Council’s Cabinet formally approved the Plan and Scheme on 29th March 2022. See link to the Cabinet Report, which includes details of the consultation results.
The Bus Services Act 2017 amended the Transport Act 2000 to provide the LTA with powers to reform the bus market in Leicestershire which provide for new types of Partnership Schemes in Leicestershire. Pursuant to this, the Leicestershire Enhanced Partnership Plan and Scheme has been made.