BSIP: £16 million more for bus services in Kent

 In the course of last week, KCC had confirmation from the Department for Transport that we have been awarded an extra £16 million in funding related to our Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP). This was announced by the Roads Minister Richard Holden on his visit to Kent on Wednesday. I was not able to join him on this visit - I was already committed to a social care event in Margate - but I had been able to have a very valuable meeting with the Minister in London last Monday.

In one sense, this is not new news; KCC was awarded a total of £35 million in BSIP funding for 2022-25 early last year. However, the first tranche (of £19 million) did not arrive until near the end of the 2022-23 financial year, with the expectation that it be spent before April 2024. At that point, there was no firm commitment to the remaining funding, but it is very welcome that it has now been confirmed.

The original focus of BSIP funding was much more heavily tilted towards capital than revenue, and even with regard to revenue the government’s emphasis was on promoting viable new routes and bus travel in general rather than protecting uneconomic services. This remains broadly the case; however, given the general crisis in the industry, there is now somewhat more flexibility and KCC is doing its utmost to support the network, especially in relation to school services, though these are still services that have the potential for a sustainable long-term future.

We will be publishing more details of the deployment of BSIP funding soon. With all the caveats, and the challenges faced by the industry (as seen in the Stagecoach reductions in East Kent), this is nonetheless good news.

You can find the DfT’s media release here.

Free bus travel on the Kent Big Weekend

Next weekend (24-25 June) is the Kent Big Weekend, organised by Visit Kent, which is promoting more than 70 tourist attractions across the county (I will be visiting a couple on the Saturday). It is also the Free Bus Weekend, when bus passengers across Kent and Medway will be able to travel free. 

This results from a collaboration between KCC and the bus companies, and is funded by the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) grant from the Department for Transport. KCC was awarded £35m under BSIP, of which almost £19m has so far been paid (for financial year 2023-24). One of the policy features in the revenue element of BSIP (about two thirds is capital) is initiatives such as this to boost bus usage. 

You can find KCC’s media release here.

This week I am meeting the Transport Minister responsible for this area, Richard Holden, so hopefully there will be more to report.

TW school services for the autumn

There is good news after concerns in the last couple of weeks about the TW1, TW3 and TW4 Go Coach services, with reports of their being de-registered. This reflected operational changes that Go Coach had to adjust to, in particular the difficulties in continuing to use the Sevenoaks campus for overnight parking. 

KCC officers tendered the routes and Go came back as the successful operator even though it will now be holding its vehicles overnight in Swanley rather than at the campus. This means that, for the TW1 and TW4, the service will continue exactly as before. 

With regard to TW3, the additional news is that it will once more serve the West of Otford, starting from Telston Lane (this used to be the case but ceased last year amid the severe pressures on bus routes). This has been agreed between Go Coach and KCC Public Transport, on the basis of cutting back trees and vegetation in Willow Park/ Rye Lane. KCC's soft landscaping team will undertake this work in August, so as not to affect nesting birds. 

This securing of school services is good news for families whose children use these routes, and reflects a continuing commitment by Go Coach to serving the area, and KCC's Public Transport officers who have gone the extra mile in helping secure this.

Rishi Sunak comes to Kent Scientific Services

After a busy week and some technical problems, this is pretty late to post about an event last Tuesday - but it’s not every week that we get a visit from the Prime Minister. 

Rishi Sunak came to Kings Hill to visit Kent Scientific Services, one of KCC’s hidden jewels. KSS provides testing and analysis to both public and private sector bodies, and its laboratory is particularly important given the volume of imports that come through our Kent ports (though its service are also used further afield). 

The Prime Minister had launched a campaign against illegal vapes, and in particular their sale to under 18s, and visited KSS accompanied by the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Chris Whitty. KCC’s head of Trading Standards, Steve Rock, briefed our visitors on his team’s work in this area, including having seized half a million illegal vapes being brought into the country. Then KSS head Mark Rolfe took them to the laboratory to see the work that KSS does in testing and establishing the contents of illegal vapes.

The Prime Minister and Chief Medical Officer were impressed by what they saw. After the tour of the laboratory, local MP and Security Minister Tom Tugendhat, Matt Boughton, Leader of Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council and I were able to update the Prime Minister on local issues.