According to minutes of the North East Combined Authority’s (NECA) Transport North East Committee from April 28, the North East Quality Contract Scheme (QCS) plans have been formally dropped, following the opinion given by the QCS board in November 2015.
The minutes read: “As part of a fresh approach, Northumberland and Durham have been working with Nexus in a combined approach to managing the public bus network in the future. As approximately 75% of bus services in Northumberland start or finish in Tyne & Wear, we are engaged in early discussions around what future developments could be.”
Possible future developments listed included:
- Revisiting the QCS (though NECA agreed this will not be happening);
- A Voluntary Partnership, a measure which could be embarked upon immediately but ‘arrangements are only as good as the personal relationships between those involved.’;
- Statutory partnerships requiring local authorities to spend public money on new infrastructure, regardless of priorities;
- With the introduction of the Buses Bill later this year, utilise new arrangements available for local authorities and bus operators to enter into. This includes enhanced partnerships that allow local authorities and bus operators to agree their own standards for all services in their area, and devolution deal commitments to give local authorities the choice to use new powers to franchise bus services in their areas.
NECA said all of these possible options and implications need to be considered to find the appropriate arrangement, and a detailed piece of work will commence over the next 2-3 months to help decide which approach is taken.
