Agenda item

Representatives from Norfolk County Council will be attending the meeting to provide information on Total Transport.

Kristen Jones and Dorothy Bryant from Norfolk County Council attended the meeting and provided the Panel with a presentation on Total Transport (as attached).  It was explained that Total Transport was a Department for Transport Funded Project with the aim to establish more joined up approaches to transport, explore ways of working across sectors and allow communities to deliver better transport in rural areas.

The Chairman thanked officers for their presentation and invited questions and comments from the Panel, as summarised below.

In response to a question it was explained that issues with bus services could be fed back to the bus operators as appropriate.  In response to a question regarding how people would be aware of the project if they did not have internet access, it was explained that once the tool was up and running ways to promote the tool would be looked at, for instance promoting the tool through the Norfolk County Council’s call centre and through GP Surgeries etc.

A link to the tool would be available on the Norfolk County Council website.  The service could also be accessed by telephone and leaflets to publicise the telephone number would be created and distributed.

The Business Manager informed the Panel that the aspiration of the project was to create a ‘one stop shop’ for information on transport providers within the locality.  Anyone could access the information, which would be kept up to date.

In response to a question, the Panel was informed that the project focussed on transport schemes rather than buses, but issues with bus services which had been reported could be looked at as part of the study.

The Leader, Councillor Long stated that there would be a benefit in having a central point of contact for finding out information on transport provisions.  He felt that a lot of people may rely on family and friends for transport and asked if there was a way to log these on the system to show that there may be a lack of alternative travel options.  It was explained that the system had lots of different categories so that lots of information could be pulled off from the system and gaps in service provision could be identified.

In response to questions it was explained that the project would mainly focus on journeys which were funded by the public purse, but transport schemes which were not funded could also be included.  The system would be able to look at key destinations such as Hospitals, GP Surgeries, Supermarkets etc. and the time it took to get to the destinations.  It was explained that the system would include pickups from within the County, however it was acknowledged that some journeys would cross County borders.

Norfolk County Council had been awarded £300,000 of funding from a central pot of £7.6m and details of the successful bids were available on the gov.uk website.

The Chairman thanked the officers from Norfolk County Council for attending the meeting and asked that the Panel be kept up to date on progress as appropriate.

RESOLVED: The Panel noted the information and requested to be kept up to date as appropriate.