Enhanced partnerships for buses

We have prepared a bus service improvement plan and entered into an enhanced partnership with local bus operators. This is in support of the Government's National Bus Strategy for England, Bus Back Better.

Bus service improvement plans

We have published our bus service improvement plan which outlines our plans for improving bus services. These plans will be developed through annual updates, the first being due by April 2023. 

Enhanced Partnership Plan and Scheme

Following the preparation of our bus service improvement plan, we:

• issued Notice of our intention to Make an Enhanced Partnership on 22 June 2021
• prepared an Enhanced Partnership Plan and Enhanced Partnership Scheme in accordance with the Transport Act 2000 as amended by the Bus Service Act 2017
• consulted on these documents in line with the two stage consultation process set out in Section 138F of the Transport Act 2000 and guidance issued by the Department for Transport. 

The comments received during the consultation, and our response to each comment, are set out below. Also found below are the approved Enhanced Partnership Plan and Scheme. We formally ‘Made’ the Enhanced Partnership in April 2022, in accordance with Section 138G of the Transport Act 2000.

Notice 

North Northamptonshire Council hereby give Notice under Section 138G(5) of the Transport Act 2000 (as amended), that the Enhanced Partnership has been Made on 14 April 2022 and comes into effect from 30 April 2022. The Enhanced Partnership has been prepared in accordance with Section 138F of the Transport Act 2000, and has been consulted accordingly.

It is made without modifications, following public consultation. The Enhanced Partnership Plan and Scheme can be viewed below and apply to all bus operators operating within North Northamptonshire Council’s administrative area, unless specifically exempt under the terms of the Enhanced Partnership Scheme.

Subsidised bus services

Many of the comments in the consultation on the Bus Service Improvement Plan priorities in September and October 2021 related to the need to restore bus services to communities who have lost them. This does not form part of the Enhanced Partnership Plan or Scheme because it is likely that such supported services would be secured through contracts with bus operators, rather than through the Enhanced Partnership.

As part of our budget setting process for 2022/23, we have introduced a new budget for supporting bus services, which may help with restoring such services. We will shortly be developing and consulting on a policy of how to spend this money.

What happens next

Further information will be published here as the implementation of preparation of the Enhanced Partnership and other initiatives to improve bus services progress.

Last updated 03 May 2022