North Yorkshire County Council

Executive

22 June 2021

National Bus Strategy

Report of the Corporate Director – Business and Environmental Services

1.0 Purpose of Report

1.1 To update the Executive on the National Bus Strategy and actions Local Transport Authorities are expected to take.

1.2 Provide a number of options and a recommendation for the Executive to consider in relation to the council’s response.

1.3 Provide a revised set of objectives for approval and inclusion in the council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan.

2.0 Background

2.1 Throughout the pandemic the Government has been providing up to £27.3m per week of emergency funding nationally to the bus sector through the COVID-19 Bus Services Support Grant (CBSSG) scheme. This is allowing bus operators to maintain services for essential travel.

2.2 In addition, the council, like many authorities, has provided additional support by maintaining contract payments and continuing English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) reimbursement at pre-Covid levels.

2.3 The National Bus Strategy (NBS) was published 15 March 2021 (The full document is available –

Bus Back Better: national bus strategy for England (publishing.service.gov.uk)). Government’s aim is to transform bus services across the country ensuring buses are more frequent, more reliable, easier to understand and use, better co-ordinated and cheaper. With increased frequencies, services operating into the evenings and at weekends or more demand responsive services in places unserved or barely served by conventional buses. Together with improved bus priority, customer information and ticketing. Government expects bus punctuality and reliability to improve and passenger numbers grow.

2.4 The NBS sets out some requirements for Local Transport Authorities (LTAs):

· By the end of June 2021 all LTAs (except MCAs which have started the statutory process of franchising bus services) to commit to establishing Enhanced Partnerships across their entire areas under the Bus Services Act 2017 or develop a bus franchising assessment.

· From 1 July 2021, only LTAs and operators who meet the above will continue to receive the COVID-19 Bus Services Support Grant (CBSSG) referred to at 2.1 above or any new sources of bus funding from the Government’s £3bn budget.

· By the end of October 2021 all LTAs to publish a local Bus Service Improvement Plan, detailing how they propose to use their powers to improve services. Actual delivery of Enhanced Partnerships by April 2022. From that date, the new discretionary forms of bus funding from Government will only be available to services operated, or measures taken, under an Enhanced Partnership or where a franchising scheme has been made. In addition, only services operated under these statutory agreements will be eligible for the reformed Bus Service Operators Grant, which is subject to consultation.

2.5 The NBS is clear that from 1 July 2021, only LTAs and operators who meet these requirements will continue to receive the COVID-19 Bus Services Support Grant (CBSSG) detailed at section 2.1 or any new sources of bus funding from the Government’s £3bn budget. The terms and conditions of CBSSG already make clear that it is discretionary. The new funding will also be discretionary. As part of wider reform of the Bus Service Operators Grant Government will consult on linking payment of that reformed grant to these commitments.

3.0 Options

3.1 Summary of Options:

1. Franchising

2. Enhanced Partnership

3. ‘Do Nothing’

3.2 As outlined in section 2.4 above the National Bus Strategy suggests two options, Enhanced Partnership or Franchising, both of which ensures funding will continue beyond 30 June 2021 and any new sources of bus funding from the Government’s £3bn budget. A third option is to ‘do nothing’, which will result in funding ceasing at 30 June 2021 and no access to any new sources of bus funding.

3.3 Franchising: LTAs who wish to pursue Franchising may do so but must commit to implementing Enhanced Partnerships until the Franchising process, which can be lengthy, is complete.

3.4 Enhanced Partnerships: An Enhanced Partnership is an agreement between a local transport authority and local bus operators to work together to improve bus services. Should the Council pursue this option the Council will need to Publish a Notice of Intent to Prepare an Enhanced Partnership Plan and Schemes prior to the 30 June 2021 Government deadline and publish a Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) by 31 October 2021. A draft notice is attached at Annex 1.

3.5 ‘Do Nothing’: Should the council pursue this option no further action would be necessary however the COVID-19 Bus Services Support Grant (CBSSG) will cease with the likely result of a sudden retrenchment of commercial bus services across North Yorkshire. In addition, the Council will be unable to access any new sources of bus funding from the Government’s £3bn budget.

3.6 Beyond publication of any Notice of Intent (as described in section 3.4), the Council will be required to make a final decision on its stance by October 2021. At that stage additional detail will be forthcoming including input from operators, information on what the North Yorkshire BSIP will contain and any new guidance on government funding.

4.0 New or Expanded Mayoral Combined Authorities in the Future

4.1 The NBS states:

“LTAs may also join together to produce joint plans and partnership or franchising arrangements and should be looking to do so where local economies and travel to work areas overlap significantly. We would expect to see shared arrangements across any areas wishing to become new or expanded Mayoral Combined Authorities in the future.”

4.2 Discussions have taken place between senior officers at the Council and City of York Council and it is proposed that given the very differing needs of bus users, driven by the differing geography and population density, coupled with the extremely short timeframe to produce a Bus Service Improvement Plan, separate plans will be submitted. However, both councils will endeavour to align their plans for areas of commonality.

5.0 Bus Service Improvement Plan

5.1 A Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) must be published by 31 October 2021.

5.2 A BSIP should:

· Be developed by LTAs in collaboration with local bus operators and other stakeholders.

· Cover the LTA’s full area.

· Set out how they will achieve the objectives in the National Bus Strategy, including growing bus use, and include a detailed plan for delivery.

· Be updated annually and reflected in the Authority’s Local Transport Plan.

5.3 It is also expected that BSIP should:

· Set targets for journey times and reliability improvements.

· Identify where bus priority measures are needed.

· Set out pressures on the road network, air quality issues and carbon reduction targets and set out actions, working with operators, to transform the local bus fleet to zero emission.

· Drive improvements for passengers and committing to a Bus Passenger Charter (BPC) that sets out what passengers can expect from bus operators delivering local bus services across their area. BPCs should include commitments on the accessibility of bus services.

5.4 It is likely that the BSIP will be the basis of a bidding document for part of the Government’s £3bn budget mentioned in section 2.3. The National Bus Strategy confirms future government funding will recognise the level of ambition demonstrated by local authorities in Bus Service Improvement Plans. However, there is uncertainty around the distribution and longevity of this funding.

6.0 Engagement

6.1 The National Bus Strategy is clear that Enhanced Partnerships should work for both LTAs and bus operators. In all cases, a BSIP should be accompanied by letters of support from operators representing at least 80% of registered mileage in the geographical area covered by the BSIP. Early engagement has taken place with operators to ensure a productive partnership is developed that will deliver improvements for bus passengers. Without sufficient support from bus operators access to future funding is at risk.

6.2 Early stakeholder engagement has also taken place. A number of questions were also asked of the Council’s Citizens Panel. Feedback provided together with information from previous passenger transport consultation exercises has helped shape the revised objectives at section 6.4 below.

6.3 Further consultation, including an open public consultation, will take place as the Enhanced Partnership progresses.

6.4 A vision and objectives are required for inclusion in the BSIP, draft versions of these are detailed below. These will be developed as the consultation and engagement progresses.

VISION: An efficient and optimised bus network in North Yorkshire that meets the needs of our local communities, enabling people to remain active and independent. With excellent customer service and simple payment and ticketing options. Customers will have bus services which encourage and enable sustainable, cleaner and healthier travel choices, lowering emissions from fewer car trips. Through our bus services, we will raise the profile of North Yorkshire as a place to live, visit, work in and invest.

Excellent Customer Service: Provide consistent and excellent customer service across North Yorkshire.

Simple Payment and Ticketing Options: Developing simple, convenient and easy to use payment options providing a network sustainable and reasonably priced for customers.

A High Quality Co-ordinated and Integrated Bus Network: Develop a network of punctual and reliable commercial services to give customers the confidence that the bus will turn up and get them to their intended destination in the time expected and, to address the needs of passengers in areas which struggle to support commercial bus services, ensure this is integrated with a modern supported network of services.

Simple, clear, and freely available information: Present the bus system as a single network and provide easily accessible and reliable travel information

7.0 Equalities

7.1 An Equalities Impact Assessment has been completed and this is attached at Annex 2. Impacts vary dependent upon the option chosen. Some options have the potential for no adverse impact and could result in making things better for people with protected characteristics. However, with other options there is potential for adverse impact for people with protected characteristics. Should the ‘do nothing’ option be pursued there will be a financial impact to local bus service operators across North Yorkshire. The likely result of which will be a sudden retrenchment of commercial bus services across North Yorkshire negatively impacting on bus users. Older people, women, people with disabilities are the particularly groups that might be adversely impacted as these groups are either likely to use public transport more often or may be more dependent upon public transport or may find using public transport harder to use. The Equalities Impact Assessment will need to be reviewed and refreshed throughout the proposal work, including following the decision following this report.

8.0 Finance

8.1 The detailed financial implications of the National Bus Strategy are not yet known and therefore this information will be set out in a future report, once available, in line with seeking approval to submit a Bus Service Improvement Plan to Government. As outlined in section 2.4 above the National Bus Strategy suggests two options, Enhanced Partnership or Franchising, both of which ensures funding will continue beyond 30 June 2021 and any new sources of bus funding from the Government’s £3bn budget. A third option is to ‘do nothing’, which will result in funding ceasing at 30 June 2021 and no access to any new sources of bus funding.

8.2 On this basis, the financial implications of the Enhanced Partnership option are not yet known, however by progressing this arrangement, this will mean the funding currently received will not automatically cease from the 30 June 2021 and the ability to access any new sources of bus funding will remain.

8.3 There is a cost to the Council in implementing the National Bus Strategy including setting up the Enhanced Partnership and developing the Bus Service Improvement Plan which is mainly in the form of officer time. This requirement can in part be met from existing resource within the service. In addition, the Department for Transport have provided a £100k flat payment to assist local authorities towards progressing an Enhanced Partnership or franchising arrangement which will be used by providing additional resource either through recruitment, consultant services or a combination of both.

9.0 Legal

9.1 There is a wide range of legislation relating to passenger transport and the Council has some statutory duties imposed as part of this legislation.

9.2 The Transport Act 2000 imposes a duty on LTAs to prepare and publish a local transport plan setting out their policies for the promotion of safe, integrated, efficient and economic transport facilities in their area, and to develop a bus strategy for carrying out their bus functions.

9.3 The Bus Services Act 2017 provides LTAs with the ability to determine and specify the bus services to be provided in an area via franchising, with bus operators bidding to provide the services (with the aim of allowing LAs to specify the services that passengers want and deliver via an integrated network of services with co-ordinated timetables, ticketing and branding). This Act also allows LTAs to introduce new Enhanced Partnerships as defined at 3.3 above.

10.0 Climate Change

10.1 A Climate Change Impact Assessment has been completed and this is attached at Annex 3. Impacts vary dependent upon the option chosen. Some options have the potential for positive impacts on the environment. However, should the ‘do nothing’ option be pursued there will be a financial impact to local bus service operators across North Yorkshire. The likely result of which will be a sudden retrenchment of commercial bus services across North Yorkshire negatively impacting on bus users. This in turn could result in increased car use and therefore increase emissions from travel, and increase air and noise pollution.

10.2 It is anticipated that there will be minimal, if any, impact on waste, water consumption, resilience, conservation and distinctive features and special qualities of North Yorkshire’s landscape. The Climate Change Impact Assessment will need to be reviewed and refreshed throughout the proposal work.

11.0 Recommendation

11.1 The Executive considers the contents of this report and approves the option of Enhanced Partnership as the preferred option and agrees the draft notice attached at Annex 1 can be published. Noting that a further decision on the council’s final option position could be taken In October 2021 when details of the Enhanced Partnership work with operators, information on what the North Yorkshire BSIP would contain, any new details on funding and future funding available at that time.

11.2 The Executive approves the objectives set out in section 6.4 for inclusion in the council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan.

Karl Battersby

Corporate Director – Business and Environmental Services

Author of Report: Cathy Knight, Commercial Sector Service Development Manager

Background Documents:

Bus Back Better: national bus strategy for England (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Equality impact assessment (EIA) form: evidencing paying due regard to protected characteristics

(Form updated April 2019)

National Bus Strategy

If you would like this information in another language or format such as Braille, large print or audio, please contact the Communications Unit on 01609 53 2013 or email communications@northyorks.gov.uk.

question mark

Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) are public documents. EIAs accompanying reports going to County Councillors for decisions are published with the committee papers on our website and are available in hard copy at the relevant meeting. To help people to find completed EIAs we also publish them in the Equality and Diversity section of our website. This will help people to see for themselves how we have paid due regard in order to meet statutory requirements.

Name of Directorate and Service Area	Business and Environmental Services Integrated Passenger Transport
Lead Officer and contact details	Cathy Knight cathy.knight@northyorks.gov.uk
Names and roles of other people involved in carrying out the EIA
How will you pay due regard? e.g. working group, individual officer	Officers will consider the Council’s equality duty and be mindful of the impact and potential effects of any proposed changes in fees and charges to people with any of the protected characteristics as defined by the Equality Act 2010, or NYCC’s additional agreed characteristics throughout the proposals considers North Yorkshire County Council’s response to the National Bus Strategy.
When did the due regard process start?	April 2021

Section 1. Please describe briefly what this EIA is about. (e.g. are you starting a new service, changing how you do something, stopping doing something?)

The National Bus Strategy sets out some requirements for local transport authorities:

• By the end of June 2021 all Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) (except MCAs which have started the statutory process of franchising bus services) to commit to establishing Enhanced Partnerships

• By the end of October 2021 all LTAs to publish a local Bus Service Improvement Plan

The proposal considers North Yorkshire County Council’s response.

Section 2. Why is this being proposed? What are the aims? What does the authority hope to achieve by it? (e.g. to save money, meet increased demand, do things in a better way.)

To ensure that the council responds appropriately to the recently issued National Bus Strategy.

Section 3. What will change? What will be different for customers and/or staff?

The proposal considers North Yorkshire County Council’s response to the National Bus Strategy. A number of options are currently being considered:

• Franchising

• Enhanced Partnership

• ‘Do Nothing’

• A combination of two of the above

This Equalities Impact Assessment will need to be reviewed and refreshed throughout the proposal work.

Section 4. Involvement and consultation (What involvement and consultation has been done regarding the proposal and what are the results? What consultation will be needed and how will it be done?)

Consultation will take place with key stakeholders and bus operators. It is likely that a public consultation will take place later in 2021, unless the ‘Do Nothing’ option is chosen.

Section 5. What impact will this proposal have on council budgets? Will it be cost neutral, have increased cost or reduce costs?

There are no financial impacts to NYCC in relation to the options set out above, at this stage. However, should the ‘do nothing’ option be pursued there will be a financial impact to local bus service operators across North Yorkshire. The likely result of which will be a sudden retrenchment of commercial bus services across North Yorkshire negatively impacting on bus users.

This Equalities Impact Assessment will need to be reviewed and refreshed throughout the proposal work.

Section 6. How will this proposal affect people with protected characteristics?	No impact	Make things better	Make things worse	Why will it have this effect? Provide evidence from engagement, consultation and/or service user data or demographic information etc.
Age		x	x	Impacts vary dependent upon the option chosen. This Equalities Impact Assessment will need to be reviewed and refreshed throughout the proposal work. However should the ‘do nothing’ option be pursued there will be a financial impact to local bus service operators across North Yorkshire. The likely result of which will be a sudden retrenchment of commercial bus services across North Yorkshire negatively impacting on bus users. People aged under 30 and over 60 usually make proportionally more bus trips per person than other age groups.
Disability		x	x	Impacts vary dependent upon the option chosen. This Equalities Impact Assessment will need to be reviewed and refreshed throughout the proposal work. However should the ‘do nothing’ option be pursued there will be a financial impact to local bus service operators across North Yorkshire. The likely result of which will be a sudden retrenchment of commercial bus services across North Yorkshire negatively impacting on bus users. No specific data available but it is possible that some groups of people with a disability are less likely to hold a full driving licence compared to someone without a disability.
Sex		x	x	Impacts vary dependent upon the option chosen. This Equalities Impact Assessment will need to be reviewed and refreshed throughout the proposal work. However should the ‘do nothing’ option be pursued there will be a financial impact to local bus service operators across North Yorkshire. The likely result of which will be a sudden retrenchment of commercial bus services across North Yorkshire negatively impacting on bus users. No current specific data available but historic data has suggested that women make more bus trips than men. Women are also less likely to have access to a car.
Race	x			No evidence of impact on grounds of race.
Gender reassignment	x			No evidence of impact on grounds of gender reassignment.
Sexual orientation	x			No evidence of impact on grounds of sexual orientation.
Religion or belief	x			No evidence of impact on grounds of religion or belief.
Pregnancy or maternity	x			No evidence of impact on grounds of pregnancy or maternity.
Marriage or civil partnership	x			No evidence of impact on grounds of marriage or civil partnership.

Section 7. How will this proposal affect people who…	No impact	Make things better	Make things worse	Why will it have this effect? Provide evidence from engagement, consultation and/or service user data or demographic information etc.
..live in a rural area?		x	x	Impacts vary dependent upon the option chosen. This Equalities Impact Assessment will need to be reviewed and refreshed throughout the proposal work. However should the ‘do nothing’ option be pursued there will be a financial impact to local bus service operators across North Yorkshire. The likely result of which will be a sudden retrenchment of commercial bus services across North Yorkshire negatively impacting on bus users. Accessing services can be problematic for people living in rural areas, for example lack of transport is often cited as a barrier to accessing employment by people living in rural areas.
…have a low income?		x	x	Impacts vary dependent upon the option chosen. This Equalities Impact Assessment will need to be reviewed and refreshed throughout the proposal work. However should the ‘do nothing’ option be pursued there will be a financial impact to local bus service operators across North Yorkshire. The likely result of which will be a sudden retrenchment of commercial bus services across North Yorkshire negatively impacting on bus users. People on low income are less likely to have access to a car and are therefore likely to be more reliant on using buses.
…are carers (unpaid family or friend)?	x			No evidence of impact on grounds of people who are carers (unpaid family or friend).

Section 8. Geographic impact – Please detail where the impact will be (please tick all that apply)
North Yorkshire wide	x
Craven district
Hambleton district
Harrogate district
Richmondshire district
Ryedale district
Scarborough district
Selby district
If you have ticked one or more districts, will specific town(s)/village(s) be particularly impacted? If so, please specify below.

Section 9. Will the proposal affect anyone more because of a combination of protected characteristics? (e.g. older women or young gay men) State what you think the effect may be and why, providing evidence from engagement, consultation and/or service user data or demographic information etc.

· Older women

· People on low income living in rural areas particularly women

· Women living in rural areas

· Disabled people living in rural areas

· Disabled people on low income

Section 10. Next steps to address the anticipated impact. Select one of the following options and explain why this has been chosen. (Remember: we have an anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments so that disabled people can access services and work for us)	Tick option chosen
1. No adverse impact - no major change needed to the proposal. There is no potential for discrimination or adverse impact identified.	x
2. Adverse impact - adjust the proposal - The EIA identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. We will change our proposal to reduce or remove these adverse impacts, or we will achieve our aim in another way which will not make things worse for people.
3. Adverse impact - continue the proposal - The EIA identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. We cannot change our proposal to reduce or remove these adverse impacts, nor can we achieve our aim in another way which will not make things worse for people. (There must be compelling reasons for continuing with proposals which will have the most adverse impacts. Get advice from Legal Services)	x
4. Actual or potential unlawful discrimination - stop and remove the proposal – The EIA identifies actual or potential unlawful discrimination. It must be stopped.
Explanation of why option has been chosen. (Include any advice given by Legal Services.) A number of options are currently being considered: • Franchising • Enhanced Partnership • ‘Do Nothing’ • A combination of two of the above Some options have the potential for no adverse impact and could result in making things better for people with protected characteristics. However with other options there is potential for adverse impact for people with protected characteristics. Should the ‘do nothing’ option be pursued there will be a financial impact to local bus service operators across North Yorkshire. The likely result of which will be a sudden retrenchment of commercial bus services across North Yorkshire negatively impacting on bus users. Older people, women, people with disabilities are the particularly groups that might be adversely impacted as these groups are either likely to use public transport more often or may be more dependent upon public transport or may find using public transport harder to use. Officers will be mindful of the impact and potential effects the proposed recommendation may have on these groups and monitoring will be undertaken as detailed in section 11. This Equalities Impact Assessment will need to be reviewed and refreshed throughout the proposal work.

Section 11. If the proposal is to be implemented, how will you find out how it is really affecting people? (How will you monitor and review the changes?)

· Monitor correspondence and complaints following the introduction of any changes

· Monitoring of the services through on-going contract management

· Feedback from users, operators, Parish Councils, County Councillors and other

· stakeholders

Section 12. Action plan. List any actions you need to take which have been identified in this EIA, including post implementation review to find out how the outcomes have been achieved in practice and what impacts there have actually been on people with protected characteristics.
Action	Lead	By when	Progress	Monitoring arrangements
Monitor bus patronage usage	Operator/contract manager	Ongoing	Ongoing	Through normal business processes
Monitor ENCTS usage	Operator/contract manager	Ongoing	Ongoing	Through normal business processes

Section 13. Summary Summarise the findings of your EIA, including impacts, recommendation in relation to addressing impacts, including any legal advice, and next steps. This summary should be used as part of the report to the decision maker.

The proposal considers North Yorkshire County Council’s response to the National Bus Strategy and a number of options are currently being considered. There is potential for adverse impact dependent upon the option chosen. This Equalities Impact Assessment will need to be reviewed and refreshed throughout the proposal work. However should the ‘do nothing’ option be pursued there will be a financial impact to local bus service operators across North Yorkshire. The likely result of which will be a sudden retrenchment of commercial bus services across North Yorkshire negatively impacting on bus users. This option may adversely affect some groups of people with protected characteristics.

Officers will be mindful of the impact and potential effects the proposed recommendation may have on these groups and monitoring will be undertaken as detailed in section 11.

This Equalities Impact Assessment will need to be reviewed and refreshed throughout the proposal work.

Section 14. Sign off section

This full EIA was completed by:

Name: Cathy Knight

Job title: Commercial Sector Service Development Manager

Directorate: Business and Environmental Services

Signature: Cathy Knight

Completion date: 29/04/2021

Authorised by relevant Assistant Director (signature): M Leah

Date: 08.06.2021

Climate change impact assessment

The purpose of this assessment is to help us understand the likely impacts of our decisions on the environment of North Yorkshire and on our aspiration to achieve net carbon neutrality by 2030, or as close to that date as possible. The intention is to mitigate negative effects and identify projects which will have positive effects.

This document should be completed in consultation with the supporting guidance. The final document will be published as part of the decision making process and should be written in Plain English.

If you have any additional queries which are not covered by the guidance please email climatechange@northyorks.gov.uk

Title of proposal	National Bus Strategy
Brief description of proposal	The National Bus Strategy sets out some requirements for local transport authorities: • By the end of June 2021 all Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) (except MCAs which have started the statutory process of franchising bus services) to commit to establishing Enhanced Partnerships • By the end of October 2021 all LTAs to publish a local Bus Service Improvement Plan The proposal considers North Yorkshire County Council’s response.
Directorate	Business and Environmental Services
Service area	Travel, Environmental and Countryside Services
Lead officer	Cathy Knight
Names and roles of other people involved in carrying out the impact assessment	None
Date impact assessment started	April 2021

Options appraisal

Were any other options considered in trying to achieve the aim of this project? If so, please give brief details and explain why alternative options were not progressed.

The proposal considers North Yorkshire County Council’s response to the National Bus Strategy. A number of options are currently being considered:

· Franchising

· Enhanced Partnership

· ‘Do Nothing’

· A combination of two of the above

This Climate Change Impact Assessment will need to be reviewed and refreshed throughout the proposal work.

What impact will this proposal have on council budgets? Will it be cost neutral, have increased cost or reduce costs?

Please explain briefly why this will be the result, detailing estimated savings or costs where this is possible.

This Climate Change Impact Assessment will need to be reviewed and refreshed throughout the proposal work.

How will this proposal impact on the environment? N.B. There may be short term negative impact and longer term positive impact. Please include all potential impacts over the lifetime of a project and provide an explanation.		Positive impact (Place a X in the box below where relevant)	No impact (Place a X in the box below where relevant)	Negative impact (Place a X in the box below where relevant)	Explain why will it have this effect and over what timescale? Where possible/relevant please include: · Changes over and above business as usual · Evidence or measurement of effect · Figures for CO₂e · Links to relevant documents	Explain how you plan to mitigate any negative impacts.	Explain how you plan to improve any positive outcomes as far as possible.
Minimise greenhouse gas emissions e.g. reducing emissions from travel, increasing energy efficiencies etc.	Emissions from travel	X		X	Impacts vary dependent upon the option chosen. This Climate Change Impact Assessment will need to be reviewed and refreshed throughout the proposal work. However should the ‘do nothing’ option be pursued there will be a financial impact to local bus service operators across North Yorkshire. The likely result of which will be a sudden retrenchment of commercial bus services across North Yorkshire negatively impacting on bus users. This in turn could result in increased car use and therefore increase emissions from travel. Conversely some options could result in reduced car use and therefore reduced emissions.
	Emissions from construction		X		No impact at this stage. This Climate Change Impact Assessment will need to be reviewed and refreshed throughout the proposal work.
	Emissions from running of buildings		X		No impact anticipated at this stage.
	Other		X		No impact anticipated at this stage.
Minimise waste: Reduce, reuse, recycle and compost e.g. reducing use of single use plastic			X		No impact anticipated at this stage.
Reduce water consumption			X		No impact anticipated at this stage.
Minimise pollution (including air, land, water, light and noise)		X		X	Impacts vary dependent upon the option chosen. This Climate Change Impact Assessment will need to be reviewed and refreshed throughout the proposal work. However should the ‘do nothing’ option be pursued there will be a financial impact to local bus service operators across North Yorkshire. The likely result of which will be a sudden retrenchment of commercial bus services across North Yorkshire negatively impacting on bus users. This in turn could result in increased car use and therefore increase air and noise pollution. . Conversely some options could result in reduced car use and therefore reduced air and noise pollution.
Ensure resilience to the effects of climate change e.g. reducing flood risk, mitigating effects of drier, hotter summers			X		No impact anticipated at this stage.
Enhance conservation and wildlife			X		No impact anticipated at this stage.
Safeguard the distinctive characteristics, features and special qualities of North Yorkshire’s landscape			X		No impact anticipated at this stage.
Other (please state below)			X		No impact anticipated at this stage.

Are there any recognised good practice environmental standards in relation to this proposal? If so, please detail how this proposal meets those standards.

Not currently aware of any good practice environmental standards relating to this proposal.

Summary Summarise the findings of your impact assessment, including impacts, the recommendation in relation to addressing impacts, including any legal advice, and next steps. This summary should be used as part of the report to the decision maker.

Impacts vary dependent upon the option chosen. Some options have the potential for positive impacts on the environment. However should the ‘do nothing’ option be pursued there will be a financial impact to local bus service operators across North Yorkshire. The likely result of which will be a sudden retrenchment of commercial bus services across North Yorkshire negatively impacting on bus users. This in turn could result in increased car use and therefore increase emissions from travel, and increase air and noise pollution

It is anticipated that there will be minimal, if any, impact on waste, water consumption, resilience, conservation and distinctive features and special qualities of North Yorkshire’s landscape.

This Climate Change Impact Assessment will need to be reviewed and refreshed throughout the proposal work

Sign off section

This climate change impact assessment was completed by:

Name	Cathy Knight
Job title	Commercial Sector Service Development Manager
Service area	Travel, Environmental and Countryside Services
Directorate	Business and Environmental Services
Signature	Cathy Knight
Completion date	29/04/2021

Authorised by relevant Assistant Director (signature): M Leah

Date: 08.06.2021