Stapleford Abbotts Parish Council

Essex County Council (ECC) writes:

"ECC is reviewing its support for 46 local bus services. We want your help to ensure that our future bus network is ready to meet new levels of passenger demand and is providing value for money. ECC is therefore carrying out this public consultation regarding these local bus services.

This consultation will commence Monday 04 August and close on Sunday 26 October 2025. The questionnaire can be found here and on the QR code: https://consultations.essex.gov.uk/iptu/localbus2025

As set out in the accompanying questionnaire, ECC is undertaking a review of local bus services which are paid for by Essex taxpayers. It does not cover services/journeys operated commercially by transport providers. This review covers all 12 districts in Essex with the view of assessing whether to continue providing the service.

We know that buses are important to many people. For example, they help people reach employment, education, visit friends and to get to health appointments. The majority of the bus network in Essex (around 85%) is run commercially. The remaining 15% of services are not commercially viable and the transport providers will therefore not run them.

As Essex’s local transport authority, when no commercial service is provided, the County Council has a duty to consider whether one is needed, and if, in the Council’s view it is, then to provide it.

How the Council decides whether a service is needed and what services it will support are set out in its Local Bus Service Priority Policy, which can be found on www.essexhighways.org/bus-strategy . The Local Bus Service Priority Policy now forms part of the Bus Service Improvement Plan so has been extended from 2020 to 2026.

ECC has a strong record for supporting local bus services and ECC remains committed to supporting an effective and efficient bus service network offering value for money to the taxpayer in the services it provides.

However, the strong financial pressures on all local government funding means that ECC must look very carefully at how it will provide all its services to make sure that the limited funding available is focused where it will be of most benefit to the public.

The services provided under this policy are paid for by Essex taxpayers. The supported network mainly operates in rural areas, and at less popular times for travel, such as in the evenings and on Sundays. At present ECC spends around £10m of taxpayer’s money on these services each year. The local bus service priority policy includes a value for money measure to ensure that taxpayers are not funding services that are not used much or have a high cost. This measure is currently valued at £5 per passenger journey. If the cost to the taxpayer is over £5 per journey made, then ECC will review the service.

The value for money measure was suspended during Covid-19 because of changing government advice on travel during the various lockdowns and then because ECC wanted to allow services time to recover. Patronage has indeed been increasing. But there are several services which were either struggling to attract passengers even before Covid-19 or where passengers have not returned. ECC is not proposing to re-introduce the £5 measure immediately because there is still some growth in patronage. However, there are several services which are substantially over the £5 measure – in fact they are costing taxpayers more than £10 cost per passenger journey to support.

We are consulting on:

• Continuing services as they are now.

• Redesigning services to better reflect how they are used (for example the days of operation; routes; the number of journeys and/or the timetable); or

• Returning some services to commercial operation.

We would expect to make an announcement on the outcome of the consultation later this year. This means we will be using the most up to date passenger data available in any final decisions.

The outcome of the consultation may differ from the proposed changes specifically listed in the consultation tables following analysis of the response from the public.

Why do your views matter?

In order for us to consider your views, we are seeking your responses on these proposals. ECC will collate all the responses from the survey and summarise them as part of our report. This report will be used to help decide whether the proposal should be implemented. We will not identify individual people and your name will not be mentioned in any reports we write for this purpose. You do not have to take part if you don’t want to - this is a voluntary activity.

Together, we can create a transportation network that is efficient, accessible, and tailored to the diverse needs of passengers. Thank you for your valuable contribution in helping us shape the future of public transport.