Agenda and minutes

The Chair to welcome Members and the public to the meeting.

Lead: Chair

1.1          The Chair welcomed all in attendance and informed Members that the meeting is being streamed live. Apologies were received from Cllr Davison.

Members are required to declare any personal, prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interest they may have relating to items on the agenda and state the nature of such interest.

Lead: Chair

2.1          Cllr Fletcher declared that he is Vice Chair of the Public Transport Consortium.

To note the minutes of the meeting held on the 5 September 2024 (including updates on agreed matters as appropriate).

Lead: Chair

3.1           The minutes of the meeting held on 5 September 2024 were considered and their accuracy as a correct record confirmed. The minutes were proposed by Cllr Firth and seconded by Cllr Healy.

3.2           The Chair commented that a Minority group Vice Chair has not yet been appointed. He informed the Committee that he will be writing to those eligible Members to establish interest.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 5 September 2024 be noted as a true and accurate record.

To consider and feedback on TfN’s emerging business plan for 2025/26, prior to it being considered at the December Board.

Lead: Katie Day

4.1          Members received the report from the Deputy Chief Executive who highlighted the key aspects within the report.

4.2          The Chair expressed  concerns in relation to the current infrastructure and suggested actions that can be taken now with the existing infrastructure. He commented on the reliability of public transport stating that this is the biggest reason for people not using public transport and asked what action can be taken to address this.

4.3          Cllr Parish commented on how the Greater Manchester Rail Taskforce  has negatively impacted on services in Warrington. He cautioned that not only the city regions should make their needs known. 

4.4          Cllr Ferguson asked  how Transport for the North will be affected/influenced by the Government’s emerging Devolution agenda and whether this is affecting the work being undertaken and influencing the priorities outlined in the plan.

4.5          The Chair expressed concern that the Mayoral Combined Authorities might cause division and emphasised the importance of collaboration and bringing everyone along together.

4.6          Cllr Salter commented on  the reliability of public transport. He stated that having  reliability makes it easier to plan journeysand that this may look different in urban and rural areas.  

4.7          Cllr Fletcher asked for clarity as to what Northern Powerhouse Rail now means and what  finance is available.

4.8          Cllr Firth informed the Committee that he had met with Officers from Northen to discuss  train performance and he had been assured  that plans are in place to make improvements . Regarding buses, he expressed hope that the franchising agreement for West Yorkshire will vastly improve this situation.

4.9          Cllr Perry highlighted that lack of drivers and maintenance staff is affecting reliability in Cumberland on the buses and trains  and asked if this is a problem across the North.

4.10       The Chair stated that  Combined Authority Mayors have a focus on upskilling and training and development of the population and this is a key element of what they should be addressing.

4.11       The Deputy Chief Executive explained that with regard to NPR TfN only has as much information as has been revealed in the budget and could not provide any further clarity. However, she confirmed that the September Board meeting had reiterated the importance of the North working together to consider NPR as a network in its entirety. She added that clarity on NPR, what it includes, what it looks like and the funding mechanism, are matters that are with the Treasury and the Department for Transport at the moment and  that the spending review should provide further clarity on this.

4.12       She then addressed the issue of devolution explaining that the role of TfN from the outset has been about enabling mayors and local political leaders to work together to consider pan-regional issues. She stressed the importance of not working in silos and recognised that the direction of devolution is to allow more devolution and more local control on investments and decisions and putting those decisions nearer to the places and the people that they affect.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To consider the update on Transport for the North’s Decarbonisation Strategy stocktake exercise, including early findings and next steps.

Lead: Peter Cole

5.1          Members received the report from the Head of Decarbonisation who highlighted the key points within his report and his presentation.

5.2          Cllr Fletcher highlighted the important role that electrification plays in decarbonisation and asked if this would progress further towards the eastern side of the Pennines.

5.3          Cllr Salter was keen to explore further the local road vulnerability data and enquired as to the role that TfN might play in advising on the safeguarding of certain routes and how matters will be adapted to future risks.

5.4          In response to Cllr Fletcher’s comments on electrification Cllr Firth informed the Committee that the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) is well under way with the Leeds to Huddersfield leg due to be completed by 2029 and the Huddersfield to Stalybridge leg due to take a further 3-4 years after that.

5.5          He then highlighted the fall in sales of electric cars with Ford announcing redundancies as a result and asked about how this can be tackled.

5.6          Cllr Ferguson referenced the transition to zero emission vehicles and highlighted possible issues that Nissan might have in reaching the Government targets on these vehicles. He asked for clarity as to what managing both car and HGV mileage means and questioned how realistic it is to manage these, stating that “any journey is a good journey” if people are getting to where they need to get, and that prioritisation of how they get there is where the focus needs to be. He also questioned whether the ambition in trebling the share of freight carried on rail and is realistic in view of the infrastructure situation.    

5.7          Addressing the issue of electrification of the railways the Head of Decarbonisation highlighted the decarbonisation pathway which he explained is the level of commitment required under the key decarbonisation levers to move from the current position in terms of emissions to the point which needs to be reached. He further explained that the pathway includes the levels of commitment needed to decarbonise trains as well as road fleets.

5.8          In addressing the issue of local road vulnerability, he stated that flooding is not currently the biggest climate issue for the strategic road network but he believes it is an issue on local roads. He explained that TfN willprovide high level mapping of where local authorities would need to do a more granular assessment, with TfN being able to provide pointers to the appropriate data sets. Additionally, help can be provided on any future guidance that may be issued from DfT around undertaking climate risk assessments on transport infrastructure. This, he stated, can then be meshed with the Transport Related Social Exclusion (TRSE) datasets and datasets from strategic regional partners to identify vulnerability and where adaptation and investment is needed.

5.9          In relation to the sale of electric vehicles (EV) he acknowledged that sales have stagnated over the last year, but he informed the Committee that EV sales are the only car sales that grew during August and September  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To consider the quarter 2 Quarterly Operating Report

Lead: Katie Day

6.1          Members received the report and the Deputy Chief Executive highlighted the key areas.

6.2          Cllr Salter asked for clarity on what is meant by a Northern measure of time.  Additionally, he highlighted fuel infrastructure and that the report was short on information on this, particularly with regard to hydrogen, and he requested further information on this.

6.3          Addressing the point on hydrogen refueling, the Deputy Chief Executive informed the Committee that TfN is working together with the Northern Gas Network on a hydrogen refueling visualiser and is exploring commercial opportunities for hydrogen refueling for HGVs. She confirmed that the Head of Decarbonisation will supply further information on this. 

6.4          On Northern Measure of Time, she stated that this has been part of the work being done on the Northern Appraisal Playbook. She explained that one of the pieces of work being undertaken as part of this is work around Northern Measure of Time. She highlighted that currently transport schemes in the North are appraised in the same way as those in London and the South East; however, there are different policy drivers around what is trying to be achieved and therefore time is measured differently in the north compared to the south and this work considers how the value of time in the north might look different to that in London and the south east. 

6.5          The Chair raised the cost of travel and the fact that it is cheaper in in London and the south east compared to the cost in the north. He highlighted the fact that London and the south east is more affluent and believes the north is being penalised.

Resolved:

That the report be noted.

27 February 2025

11am

The next meeting will be 27 February at 11am.

11am