Event Recap: How Might Devolution Impact Public Transport?

On Tuesday 3rd June, Norwich Business Improvement District (BID) hosted a BID Breakfast event at Carrow House titled ‘Devolution & Steering Sustainable Transport’.

The goal of the morning’s presentations and group discussions was to equip participants with a deeper understanding of devolution, and to engage with them on how devolution might impact local transport within the city / its surrounding areas. In addition, we wanted to highlight the opportunities to develop and elevate our local transport offer. Those in attendance agreed that public transport must be ever more frequent, convenient and affordable for passengers, encouraging as many people to use services as possible regardless of their age or background, and helping to reduce the current reliance on private cars.

Three Key Outcomes to Strive For

There were several main takeaways from the valuable collaborative discussions which took place throughout the morning. Participants stressed that:

• Integrated multi-modal connectivity should be a focus as a result of devolution in the area; in particular, a multi-modal ticketing system similar to that enjoyed by Transport for London (TfL) customers.
• Continued innovation should be at the forefront of future services, strategically serving the people best in both urban and rural areas.
• A collaborative approach must be taken to best leverage the opportunities presented by devolution. If the region is to see a step change and ever better consistency of service, it’s vital that stakeholders within the industry work together and prioritise shared goals accordingly.

What Might Devolution Mean for the Region?

Stefan Gurney, Executive Director at Norwich Business Improvement District (BID) began the event by giving a brief overview of how devolution aims to empower regional decision-making, while fostering collaboration across local authorities and stakeholders to deliver economic growth and infrastructure development; this included touching upon devolution’s:

• Purpose: Establishing local governance to manage regional affairs more effectively.
• Authority Structure: Devolved authorities are led by an elected mayor with executive powers over key regional issues.
• Funding Set-up: Control over budgets and investments previously managed centrally.
• System of Accountability: Devolved mayors are directly accountable to voters through local elections.

Stefan went on to outline potential lessons which Norwich, Norfolk and Suffolk might take from other English devolution agreements already in place, and how these could lead to benefits for the region including streamlined decision-making, policies tailored more to local needs, and enhanced regional cooperation.

Speaking next, Niki Park, Head of Passenger Transport at Norfolk County Council, focused on the challenges and opportunities devolution could bring to our local bus services. She highlighted current successes for buses in the county, including rising passenger numbers and satisfaction levels, along with improvements such as more real-time information and quicker journey times.

Niki suggested that devolution could pave the way for a franchised service, potentially helping to integrate ticketing systems and making it easier for passengers to move between services and across different modes of transport, such as trains and buses. However, she also cautioned that while funding for bus transport currently goes directly to Norfolk to be spent within the county, devolution could mean adopting a joint plan with Suffolk, which raises the possibility that funds would need to be shared across both counties.

Moving on to give a rail perspective, Greater Anglia’s Head of Corporate Affairs Jonathan Denby presented how the train operator was seeing passenger numbers at or above pre-pandemic levels, with annual punctuality of services currently over 94%. Jonathan stated that Greater Anglia viewed devolution as an opportunity to be grasped, given how it has led to additional investments and enhancements elsewhere in devolved regions such as Scotland, Wales, London, Manchester and Cambridgeshire. If priorities are agreed upon and acted on quickly, it could help lead to further ticketing and station upgrades, additional services, and easier multimodal interchange.

Next up, Ben Lee, Beryl’s Partnership Lead explained how the micromobility provider already works with several devolved authorities in the UK, such as Transport for Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire Combined Authority. Ben mentioned that Beryl work with these devolved areas in varying ways, depending on the strategy and approach taken by the mayor in charge.

A Joint Dialogue on Devolution

After the introductory talks, round table discussions took place, following the World Café methodology, a simple, effective, and flexible format for hosting group dialogue. The speakers (Niki Park, Jonathan Denby and Ben Lee) moved between tables of participants, and used the GROW model to build on discussions over three rounds. The GROW model involves beginning with a Goal, looking at the Reality, discussing the available Options, and finishing with the question ‘What should we do?’. This approach encourages the sharing of thoughts from people who may have, or begin with, different experiences and perceptions.

Norwich BID is proud to be working together with businesses to establish their priorities regarding devolution. If you have any ideas that you’d like to discuss on this important topic, please reach out to our Head of Development  Martin Blackwell (martin.blackwell@norwichbid.co.uk).

You can download the presentation slides from the event here.