Localism Bill

Lord Shipley Excerpts

Monday 20th June 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Shipley]

My Lords, I support the amendment moved by my noble friend Lord Greaves because I believe that defining the principles and the culture of this Bill matters profoundly to our understanding of the debates that we will have on each of its parts. I declare my interest as a member of Newcastle City Council.

The coalition agreement is helpful because it underpins where the Bill has come from. It says:

“The Government believes that it is time for a fundamental shift of power from Westminster to people. We will promote decentralisation and democratic engagement, and we will end the era of top-down government by giving new powers to local councils, communities, neighbourhoods and individuals”.

That is a powerful, clear statement and it should be the test by which we examine the Bill in Committee. However, I think that it would help us to have a closer definition of terms. The definition of “local councils” is clear to us all, because local councils have a statutory role. However, a community can be both a community of interest and a community of place and it is important that we do not confuse the two. Neighbourhoods are clearly places; one or more neighbourhoods, when joined together, make a community. Ultimately, neighbourhoods form the electoral base—the ballot box base—on which democratic decisions can be made. Those neighbourhoods joined together create a ward, through which councillors are elected. As for individuals, these are the people who work in, live in or visit the area, but I think that this predominantly relates to those who have a vote and therefore are residents in their council area.

My noble friend Lord Greaves talked about the importance of the principle of subsidiarity and devolving decision-making to the lowest level possible. I hope that we would all agree with that aim. One of my worries, which I have expressed before in your Lordships’ House, is that we as a country are in grave danger of confusing localism with atomisation. Government and Whitehall departments create thousands upon thousands of little platoons. Those may be in the health service, schools or a whole range of organisations operating at a local level, but they are not co-ordinated by their local council—they are not strategically led by a democratically accountable body. They are run in and out of Whitehall and they are not ultimately accountable to the test that I said should be applied—the ballot box. These issues of principle are vital, which is why I believe that my noble friend’s amendment is exceedingly important. It is about subsidiarity and the power of the ballot box—it may be through referendums or through the election of individuals—but it has to be about reducing, not increasing, the powers of the Secretary of State on local matters.

In Committee, we will come on to an interesting test. In the council tax referendum, people will have the power only to reduce the council’s recommended council tax. With true localism, there would be a power to increase council tax as well as to reduce it—that, too, should be the subject of a referendum if people want it to be. It also implies that we have got a representative system in place in which the ballot box can operate. We do in rural areas, through parish councils. It is a great deal more difficult in urban areas, where the only democratic system based on the ballot box is the ward in which councillors, one or more, have been elected. It is important, as we go through the Bill, to make sure that we tie that democratic accountability through the ballot box to the decisions that are being made. That is particularly important in discussions on planning matters.

Finally, I hope that all Whitehall departments will understand that they have to be integrated into the localism agenda. It will not be enough for DCLG to be the Whitehall department that is pressing the localism agenda along with local councils throughout the country if it then finds that other Whitehall departments wish to retain direct budgetary control and control through the atomisation of public services.

[Lord Ouseley]

My Lords, I welcome the discussion on this amendment, which gives us an opportunity to consider the guiding principles of this legislation. It is quite clear that there is much confusion in the Bill about what localism is and whether we are being offered localism or greater centralisation. The opportunities to shift power to the people, so to speak, may in fact be giving greater opportunities for those local groups that are already well organised and sufficiently competent to challenge local authorities and other local service providers. Therefore, it is important that we establish some understanding of the principles of the Bill, to try to remove some of those confusions as we consider the detail of the clauses, as we inevitably will—some to a greater extent than others.

I particularly welcome the amendment because, if we are genuinely going to shift power to people, it provides us with an opportunity to consider how we become much more inclusive. Paragraphs (b) and (c) in the proposed new clause offer us the opportunity to consider how we can ensure that all have the opportunity to share in the power that is being shifted to local people.

Secondly, we need to reinforce local democracy. The confusion in the Bill may almost enable us to weaken our current system of local government, whereas we should be looking to strengthen it. Local government is the one area where we have proper accountability, even if it is not as effective as it should be; there is no basis on which we are able to demonstrate that we are seeking to engage with people more, getting them to participate in those local democratic processes. In talking about localism, we miss an opportunity if we do not also look to engage people and strengthen local democracy by getting them to engage in the current processes.

If we are to establish a culture of inclusion as the amendment suggests, it is important that we state these principles right at the heart of the beginning of the Bill, so that we have them as a guide to facilitate our detailed consideration.

Sustainable Local Transport

Lord Shipley Excerpts

Wednesday 19th January 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Shipley]

My Lords, perhaps I might press the Minister on the issue of the Highways Agency, and the powers on the classification of roads—particularly A-roads—that will be passed to local authorities. Trunk roads controlled by the Highways Agency run through urban areas but are treated in practice as local roads. I declare an interest as a member of Newcastle City Council, but I am talking in particular about our western bypass. Issues arise over the powers of the local authority, particularly where the council's roads dissect the Highways Agency's trunk roads. I would appreciate guidance from the Minister on what additional powers local councils might have over the Highways Agency in situations such as that.

[Earl Attlee]

I do not think local transport authorities will have powers over the Highways Agency. I do not think that there is any superiority issue with the Highways Agency or the local transport authority. We would expect them to consult each other, particularly when the local transport authority is reclassifying a road. Sometimes it may be considering reclassifying a road that is nowhere near a Highways Agency road, and I am not sure that it has to consult the Highways Agency. Clearly, when it could affect a Highways Agency route—routes on the strategic road network—I am sure it would consult.

Transport: Bus Industry

Lord Shipley Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd November 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Shipley]

My Lords, local bus services have three essential economic and social functions: they get people to work and education in support of economic growth; they help to reduce congestion and carbon emissions; and they improve social inclusion for those without a car by providing them with links to local services and access to work and leisure. However, there is a conflict today between the important role that bus services play and the unregulated way in which they are operated outside London.

Bus services here in London are wonderful. I am impressed by their frequency, the reasonableness of the fares, the newness of the vehicle fleet and the wide range of routes which extend access and availability. While commercial operators do a good job in some other parts of the country, the overall picture is nevertheless mixed. Investment in modern, cleaner and more accessible vehicles varies from region to region, as does the extent of networks, reliability of services and maintenance standards. I regret in particular that there is no public service obligation on bus operators as there is on other public utilities. Unlike a domestic electricity or gas supply, a neighbourhood’s bus service can be cut off at 56 days’ notice, without consultation, by its commercial operator.

The context today is one in which bus services will come under greater strain in the years ahead as a result of the reductions in public spending, as 47 per cent of bus company income is derived from national and local government in various grants and subsidies that now amount to some £2 billion. As this is reduced, there is a real danger that services will decline in some areas. This is already the case with shire counties cutting the number of routes that they subsidise. As examples of cuts to bus services starting to take effect, North Yorkshire County Council is consulting on plans to save £600,000 by withdrawing its subsidy for evening and weekend bus services, and Durham County Council has been consulting residents on which of the bus services that it subsidises—20 per cent of all routes in the county—it should cut as it seeks to reduce spending.

According to Spending Review 2010, the 20 per cent reduction in bus subsidies paid directly to operators will save over £300 million by 2014-15. That, coupled with a reduction of 28 per cent in overall local authority funding over the next four years, will inevitably put pressure on to the subsidy system. In addition, the special grant top-up for concessionary travel funding is being withdrawn and, from next April, that funding will be subsumed into the formula grant alongside the rest of the funding for concessionary travel.

It is interesting to note that the total cost of subsidising bus services has grown since 1986 from £850 million to around £2 billion. This subsidy includes bus service operators grant, public transport support and concessionary fare reimbursement by local authorities. There is now a very real danger of a salami effect on bus services, with bus companies withdrawing their own marginal routes as the bus service operators grant is reduced at the very same time as councils are forced to reduce subsidised routes. This attrition of an essential public service must be curtailed, given that in the UK the total number of bus trips today is still twice the number of rail and underground trips.

So, what should we do? Local authorities need to be encouraged to look at new models of service delivery, including forming strategic partnerships with operators and introducing quality contract arrangements with local franchises offered to a single operator in a particular area. As part of that, the Government should ensure that local authorities and passenger transport executives retain the powers to determine how bus services are delivered in their communities, using the full powers of the Transport Act 2009, and are incentivised to do so, where possible, by secondary legislation and government guidance.

Under quality contract franchising, private sector companies would be invited to bid to operate a specified network. Once a company was appointed, it would face no on-road competition and would be free to concentrate on developing the local market for bus travel. With franchising, you get what you are prepared to pay for, but a market testing exercise by passenger transport executives has shown that, even with the existing level of public subsidy to the industry, franchising should provide a better network than currently exists. At a minimum, those networks would be: more stable, with less frequent changes to fares, times and frequencies; possibly more reliable, because services would be monitored and good performance would be incentivised; better integrated, with one brand, one network, one ticket and simpler fares; and cleaner, because dirty old buses would be sent to the scrapyard and contracts would require bus operators to provide newer, cleaner buses and to maintain them to a high standard.

If in time more resources became available, whether from national government or from the local authorities themselves, quality contracts could be used to make a further step change with more state-of-the-art low-emission or no-emission buses. Fares could be simplified and held at current levels, or even reduced. The network could be made more accessible more quickly by making every bus low-floor, with easy access for wheelchair users. New services could be added to help link people to vital destinations like jobs and hospitals. More buses could be provided in rush hours to help reduce traffic congestion. This would all help reduce car dependency, improve air quality and contribute to the quality of the environment.

We should note that franchising of services, with the public sector specifying and regulating and the private sector delivering, is now the norm in the rest of public transport provision in Britain and across Europe. It is time that it became the norm with our bus services. Indeed, a growing number of bus operators, particularly those who have forged a good reputation in providing franchised public services at home and abroad, are supportive of franchising proposals. For the private sector, the advantage of franchising is an open, competitive framework and a long-term and stable return on investment with which they can invest in new vehicles and build customer numbers. Those in the private sector know that bus ridership can be increased because latent demand exists, and that is what has to be generated.

We can see from Transport for London how ridership can be increased. First, in the 20 years from 1986 when bus services outside London were deregulated, bus patronage in urban areas has declined by 46 per cent, while London has seen bus patronage increase by 81 per cent. In the past year, while ridership dropped 3 per cent outside London, London’s buses saw 0.5 per cent growth. Secondly, in the same period bus fares in urban areas have increased by 94 per cent in real terms, but in London fares have risen by just 54 per cent over the same period. Thirdly, even though local bus service vehicle kilometres fell by 13 per cent in the 10 years to 2008 in urban areas, they rose 31 per cent in London. Crucially, the higher load factors achieved in London have led to a significant fall in operating costs per passenger journey, by 22 per cent in real terms since 1985 compared with an increase of 7 per cent outside London.

It is all about generating new customers on our bus services. London has shown what can be achieved, and the rest of the UK must be empowered to follow.