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Administrative timetable

Final report

23 October 2024: The SAU has published its report providing advice to the Plymouth City Council concerning its proposed subsidy to Plymouth Citybus Limited. The report sets out the SAUs evaluation of Plymouth City Councils Assessment of Compliance of the proposed subsidy with the requirements set out in the Subsidy Control Act 2022.

• Final report (23.10.24)

Request from Plymouth City Council

12 September 2024: The SAU has accepted a request for a report providing advice to Plymouth City Council concerning its proposed subsidy to Plymouth Citybus Limited. This request relates to a Subsidy of Particular Interest.

The SAU will prepare a report, which will provide an evaluation of Plymouth City Councils assessment of whether the proposed subsidy complies with the subsidy control requirements (Assessment of Compliance). The SAU will complete its report within 30 working days.

Information about the subsidy provided by Plymouth City Council

Plymouth City Council is proposing to provide a subsidy of up to 12.3 million to a commercial transport operator Plymouth Citybus Limited to secure the delivery of a project comprising:

• the acquisition of a fleet of 50 zero emission double decker buses (ZEBs) which will cover specified bus routes within Plymouth and to/ from the Rame Peninsula, South East Cornwall
• the provision of related charging infrastructure to support the use of the ZEBs

The project will reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality both directly, from the operation of the ZEBs; and indirectly from the electric buses displacing the current 33 Euro VI type diesel buses and 17 Euro V operating on the routes the ZEBs will operate, whilst, at least, maintaining the level of service enjoyed on the bus routes to be decarbonised.

The subsidy equates to up to 43% of the total project cost of 28.3m. The balance of the project cost will be financed from Plymouth Citybus Limiteds own non-publicly sourced group reserves.

The subsidy itself is financed from the Department for Transports Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) 2 Fund (84%); and from Plymouth City Council (6%) and Cornwall Council (10%) which are the relevant local transport authorities for Plymouth and the Rame Peninsula. The Department for Transport element includes 0.8 million contingency funding, which will only be paid in the event of quantified project risks materialising. In the absence of such, the proposed subsidy award by Plymouth City Council to Plymouth Citybus is limited to a maximum of 11.5 million.

Plymouth Citybus is part of a large international company group; the Go-Ahead Group Limited which includes Go-Ahead Holding Limited, the parent company of Plymouth Citybus. The subsidy payment it will receive will be subject to:

• the parent company and/or Plymouth Citybus funding any deficit in the project costs
• the ZEBs operating on the agreed routes for at least 5 years
• the buses to be replaced by the ZEBs being cascaded through Plymouth Citybus Limiteds fleet to remove outstanding Euro IV double deck buses and retro fitted (Euro IV to Euro V) double deck buses from its Plymouth based bus fleet
• additional public benefits being secured, namely the ZEBs meeting enhanced accessibility standards and the ZEB charging infrastructure being available for use by local community groups

All bus operators in the statutory Plymouth Enhanced Bus Partnership were offered the opportunity to partner with Plymouth City Council in its application for ZEBRA 2 funding for Plymouth. Plymouth Citybus took up the offer. All bus operators on the Plymouth Enhanced Partnership Board endorsed the application, in recognition of its wider value to the Bus Partnership.

Without the proposed subsidy the project would not progress and the significant decarbonisation of bus transport and air quality benefits for Plymouth and the Rame Peninsula would not be realised.

Information for third parties

If you wish to comment on matters relevant to the SAUs evaluation of the Assessment of Compliance concerning Plymouth City Councils proposed subsidy to Plymouth Citybus, please send your comments before 5pm on the date stipulated in the timetable above. For guidance on representations relevant to the Assessment of Compliance, see the section on reporting period and transparency in the Operation of the subsidy control functions of the Subsidy Advice Unit.

Please send your submissions to the public authority rosemary.starr@plymouth.gov.uk.

Please also provide a contact address and explain in what capacity you are making the submission (for example, as an individual or a representative of a business or organisation).

Notes to third parties wishing to make a submission

The SAU will only take your submission into account if it can be shared with Plymouth City Council. The SAU will send a copy of your submission to Plymouth City Council together with its report. This is to allow the public authority to take account of the submission in its decision as to whether to create or modify the subsidy or its assessment. We therefore ask that you provide express consent for your full and unredacted submission to be shared. We also encourage you to share your submission directly with Plymouth City Council using the email address provided above.

The SAU may use the information you provide in its published report. Therefore, you should indicate in your submission whether any specified parts of it are commercially confidential. If the SAU wishes to refer in its published report to material identified as confidential, it will contact you in advance.

For further details on confidentiality of third party submissions, see identifying confidential information in the Operation of the subsidy control functions of the Subsidy Advice Unit.

Contacts

• CMA press team: 020 3738 6460 or press@cma.gov.uk