Leader of the Council and Place Shaping Cabinet Member – Minutes – 4 August 2017
2 (2) TRANSPORT FOR THE NORTH – INCORPORATION AS A SUB-NATIONAL TRANSPORT BODY – The Executive Director: Commercial submitted a report updating the Cabinet Member on the current position regarding the establishment of Transport for the North as a Sub-national Transport Body, and seeking to determine whether to consent on behalf of the council to its creation, and if so the basis on which to proceed.
In 2014 Local Transport Authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships across the North of England came together in partnership with the Department for Transport and the National Transport Agencies to form Transport for the North (TfN). Together they had developed a pan-northern transport strategy to drive economic growth in the North. The purpose, as set out by TfN, was to transform the transport system of the North of England and the aim articulated by TfN was to plan and deliver the improvements needed to connect the region with fast, frequent and reliable transport links, driving economic growth and creating a Northern Powerhouse.
As part of this programme of improvements and devolution of transport strategy to a more local level these Local Transport Authorities came together to form Rail North Limited a company whose objects included the management of the TransPennine Express and Northern Rail Franchises on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport.
In October 2016 with the in principle agreement of all the Constituent Authorities, TfN submitted a proposal to the Secretary of State for Transport that TfN should be established as the first Sub-national Transport Body under the provisions of section 102E of the Local Transport Act 2008 as amended by the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016.
The report set out full details, including financial implications, of the proposed establishment of Transport for the North as a Sub-National Transport Body.
Resolved – (a) That in principle, the giving of consent on behalf of the council, as a constituent council of the proposed Transport for the North Sub-National Transport Body, be supported, and (b) that consent be delegated to the Executive Director (Commercial), in consultation with the Leader of the Council, once the terms of the Regulations and the Constitution were known, in respect of the following:
(i) the making by the Secretary of State of Regulations under section 102E of the Local Transport Act 2008 to establish Transport for the North as a Sub-National Transport Body,
(ii) the transfer of Rail North Limited to Transport for the North so that it could be subsumed with Transport for the North,
(iii) the signing of a new Rail Franchise Management Agreement with Transport for the North replicating as far as possible the current Rail North Limited Members Agreement, and
(iv) continuation of the payment of the current funding for Rail North Limited to Transport for the North after its inauguration.
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