News, Politics, Transport

Reform’s victory in local elections creating uncertainty for East Midlands’ bus operators

By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter

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The boss of bus company Nottingham City Transport says work needs to be done on Reform UK’s public transport policy to create certainty after the party’s victory in the local elections.

Public transport powers will be transferred from local councils to the East Midlands Combined County Authority from April next year, with Labour Mayor Claire Ward pledging to improve partnerships with existing bus companies in the region.

The authority covers Nottingham and Derby city councils, as well as Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire county councils.

However two of these councils – the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire county councils – changed hands from Conservative leadership to Reform in the May 1 elections.

Speaking at the ALBUM Bus Industry conference in Nottingham on May 13, NCT’s managing director David Astill said operators have been left with a degree of ‘uncertainty’ due to the party’s lack of local public transport policies.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “All the local transport authority powers will pass to the East Midlands Combined Authority by April next year, so we know we have got Claire Ward [the Mayor] in place committed to working in partnership with bus companies and developing what we already have.

“Clearly there are four local authorities that make up the combined area and two of those have now gone over and are being controlled by the Reform party.

“We don’t currently know what their policies and priorities will be so clearly there is some further work to do there.”

While Reform UK emphasised the importance of improving existing rail and road links in its manifesto last year, the party did not specify any objectives for buses.

The party did not respond to a request for comment on its local public transport policies when contacted by the LDRS.

During the conference, which was hosted by NCT at the East Midlands Conference Centre, a raft of the bus company’s other challenges were also highlighted.

Labour-led Nottingham City Council continues to be the majority shareholder of NCT. One of its councillors, Graham Chapman, is its chairman.

Transdev, the UK arm of the French multi-national transport operator, acquired an effective 18 per cent stake in the company in 2000.

“It is important to think long-term and where possible, and it is not always possible, not always cutting corners on investment,” Cllr Chapman said.

“We do provide dividends, sometimes the relationship with our main public sector shareholder, Transdev, is fraught, as it has been this year, but we will not provide dividends that undermine long-term viability.

“Reputation management has become a fundamental business imperative. We cannot ignore it. In the long-term it is more important that short-term profit.

“That is my view. One of the greatest strengths we have in Nottingham is reputation and loyalty that has been built up with the Nottingham public.

“We all face challenges; flattening and even reducing passengership, increasing reliance on subsidy, upfront costs of electrification, National Insurance costs, and congestion.”

Mr Astill added the Labour Government’s increase in employer National Insurance contributions had left NCT with a “seven-figure sum”.

However, he said the firm could still be financially sustainable and emphasised investing in the workforce was key to its success.

“It’s all about the staff,” he said.

“We want to continue to invest in our workforce. They are our biggest asset.”