## **The 106 Partnership** Communities in support of our local buses 106 Bus Partnership Annual General Meeting 2023 ## Shap Memorial Hall ## Wednesday 15[th] November, 7pm ## **Welcome and Introduction** **Apologies for Absence** – Adrian Todd, Cllr Virginia Taylor, Cllr John Murray **Attendance** – Libby Bateman, Chris Battersby, Jonathan Davies, Neil Hughes, Ali Morriss, Alan Sowerby and 10 members of the public. **Minutes from the previous AGM** – Neil asked for the chairs report to be a week in advance to circulate with agenda. **Chairman’s Report** – The chair sent apologies for not being able to join the meeting as he had been delayed by work commitments. The chairs asked for this thanks to be conveyed to passengers for their patronage of the service over the past 12 months. Thanks was also extended to parish councils and to Cumbria Classic Coaches, specifically Ian for his excellent stewardship of the service. The chair reported on the success of the summer leaflet to promote the 106 bus service. Copies of the leaflet were available at the meeting. The leaflet was funded by Cumbria County Council transport fund shortly before the authority Authority gave way to the two new unitary authorities. The Fell Runner Bus started a Saturday on the 4[th] November, The 106 Partnership initially explored options for commissioning this service with Fell Runner but they we’re able to cover the whole route to Kendal so the committee felt it most appropriate for the Saturday service to run independently. Please use the bus on a Saturday to show your support for this additional service between Shap and Penrith. The Eden Locality Board or Westmorland and Furness Council is looking to fund to additional bus services across the area and is currently looking at supporting an additional day for the 106 route, the realisation of this opportunity will depend on ## **The 106 Partnership** Charity Number: 1176484 Treasurer - Chris Battersby - Aysgarth, Eamont Bridge, CA10 2BH Tel: 01768 866670 Email: chrisb8491@outlook.com ## **The 106 Partnership** Communities in support of our local buses supplier availability. Thanks was extended to Chris Battersby for his work as Treasure and to the wider committee for their consistent service attending meetings. **Treasurer’s Report** – a copy of the balance sheet was circulated to the meeting (copied below). Parish Council payments for 2023 totalled £4000, the prev year was £3000 but one council paid two years in one due to different accounting year ends. A grant of £1500 has been gratefully received from Penrith Town Council. External grants have been received, totalling £10,915, this is made up of a five year support grant from Inspiring Eden which was paid immediately and closed off as the Authority has been replaced by the new unitary authority. The second external grant was from Cumbria BSOG money which was used for the summer leaflet delivery and design costs. Amazon Smile now finished as the scheme has closed, Chris has put a donation tin in the bus which is doing well. We have also opened an account with One Lottery, this is an online lottery where a player pays £1 per ticket per week. If the players register as supporting the 106 Bus Partnership, then we get .50p from each sale. Players have a chance of winning £26k each week with other prizes such as holidays drawn on a monthly basis. Players can purchase as many tickets as they wish. We expect to receive £43 from One Lottery from tickets bought in October. A question was raised regarding membership of Friends of the 106 as people have reported not having receive a renewal from in 2023. Libby confirmed that the next newsletter and Friends Of membership form and passenger survey is due out before Christmas. ## **The 106 Partnership** Charity Number: 1176484 Treasurer - Chris Battersby - Aysgarth, Eamont Bridge, CA10 2BH Tel: 01768 866670 Email: chrisb8491@outlook.com ## **The 106 Partnership** Communities in support of our local buses Neil Hughes questioned BSOG grant availability and said that Westmorland and Furness haven’t yet received an allowance. Under Cumbria County Council the BSOG could not be used to subsidise bus services, so it was used for investment in advertising and infrastructure. Cllr Hughes reported that no BSOG funding has yet been received from government for 2023. Cllr Hughes encouraged the partnership to consider how they would want to spend future grants. Service usage – total passenger numbers for the past 12 months were reported as 7676 journeys on the bus. 6262 from Now Card (bus pass) and 1414 fee paying passengers. The treasure reported that then number of feepaying passengers has nearly doubled from 2022, this could be due to the introduction of the £2 fare cap. The treasurer gave credit to Cumbria Classic Coaches for the work they have done to join the £2 cap scheme. ## **The 106 Partnership** Charity Number: 1176484 Treasurer - Chris Battersby - Aysgarth, Eamont Bridge, CA10 2BH Tel: 01768 866670 Email: chrisb8491@outlook.com ## **The 106 Partnership** Communities in support of our local buses Jonathan Davies asked if the parish council and the town council contributions should be reported together as they are essentially the same. Jonathan was concerned to see a pot of money sat in reserves while parish councils and local authorities are facing a tightening of their belts. Jonathan proposed that Parish Council donations be reduced and looked at again into the future or as and when. The meeting agreed that for 2024 the 106 Bus Partnership would ask parishes to consider making donation instead of sending an invoice. ## **Election of Officers** - Chairman – Jonathan Davies nominates Adrian Todd, this was seconded by Alan Sowerby, the meeting unanimously voted in favour of the nomination, so Adrian Todd was elected Chair of the 106 Bus Partnership for another year. - Treasurer – Libby Bateman nominated Chris Battersby, this was seconded by Alan Sowerby, the meeting unanimously voted in favour of the nomination, so Chris Battersby was elected as 106 Bus Partnership Treasurer for another year. - Secretary – Alan Sowerby nominated Libby Bateman, this was seconded by Jonathan Davies, the meeting unanimously voted in favour of the nomination, so Libby Bateman was elected as 106 Bus Partnership Secretary for the ensuing year. **Bus Timetable** Ali Morris’s commented that the timetables are now all online. She said that because of differing timetables between Tuesdays and Fridays people get confused and suggested that it might be better if the bus timetable was the same time on Tuesdays and Fridays. Cu Brian Classic Coaches also feel there is a need to slightly amend the timetable as VOSA monitoring expects conformity to promptness; but traffic in Penrith is challenging and a change is required so they can reliably meet the timetable. The meeting was presented with a number of options. - 2hrs in Penrith and 1.3 in Kendal on both days. ## **The 106 Partnership** Charity Number: 1176484 Treasurer - Chris Battersby - Aysgarth, Eamont Bridge, CA10 2BH Tel: 01768 866670 Email: chrisb8491@outlook.com ## **The 106 Partnership** Communities in support of our local buses - 1.3/4 each, - 1.55 in Penrith and 1.30 in Kendal. Passengers were asked to express their preferences, noting that no changes would take effect until the New Year. The planned gas works closures in Penrith will be a challenge in Jan, Feb, March. The meeting favoured 1hr 45mins in both Penrith and Kendal. The Partnership will notify the parishes of the planned change as soon as reasonably possible within the constraints of the traffic commissioner’s requirements. It was noted that the service will still be leaving Kendal at the same time so it will remain possible to support the Lakeland Loop. Some passengers reported using a variation on the Lakeland Loop and detouring via Kirkstone Pass. The meeting felt there may be an opportunity to promote the service to the schools and college to notify them when students can use the bus to return home after school clubs. Libby to add schools to the digital newsletter circulation. Cumbria unitary authorities reman responsible for advertising the route timetables at the bus stops. **Saturday Service** - The Fellrunner bus began a Saturday service between Shap and Penrith on 4[th] Nov, the timetable is available on the Fellrunner website and via Cumbria transport information services. **10[th] Anniversary Celebrations** – Libby highlighted that February 2025 will be the 10[th] anniversary of the commencement of the 106 Bus Partnership running the 106 bus route and invited ideas for possible celebration events. Jonathan Davies highlighted a FSB project with trains called small business Saturday where businesses from Preston to Carlisle participated with event at each end of the train route. Business networking day are also popular. The meeting felt that we should do something for regular passengers and not just high-level showcase events. A suggestion was made for a party on the bus or Bingo on the Bus where local businesses could be asked to donate prizes. It would also be a good opportunity to seek out a testimonial to go out with a news release about the service anniversary. ## **The 106 Partnership** Charity Number: 1176484 Treasurer - Chris Battersby - Aysgarth, Eamont Bridge, CA10 2BH Tel: 01768 866670 Email: chrisb8491@outlook.com ## **The 106 Partnership** Communities in support of our local buses A celebration day could also include a reception at Penrith and Kendal, hosted by a local café. There could be an opportunity to link in with BIDS & W&F input into reception. 106 Bus Committee to get their thinking-caps on and make a plan. **Any other business** – Jonathan Davies thinks the website needs a review. Libby & Chris to get together with Becx to discuss possible changes. The HS2 call off may mean an additional £35m spare for transport in the North with an expectation that the first lot will be given out as new bus money. WAF Council have some money already promised from bus service improvement plan. Councillors will be looking for new schemes to support from beginning of April 2024. The Council is keen to produce tenders that communities and suppliers will support and anybody with ideas should contact Cllr Neil Hughes. **Date of next meeting** – Wed 13[th] Nov 2024 ## **The 106 Partnership** Charity Number: 1176484 Treasurer - Chris Battersby - Aysgarth, Eamont Bridge, CA10 2BH Tel: 01768 866670 Email: chrisb8491@outlook.com ## **BALANCE SHEET FOR THE 106 PARTNERSHIP AS AT 1ST NOVEMBER 2023** ||**INCOME**|**INCOME**||||**EXPENDITURE**||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**2023**||2022|||**2023**|2022|| |BALANCE BFW|**£ 18,607.71**|**£ 14,298.52**|||CLASSIC COACHES|**£ 3,807.04**|£ 3,673.17|2| |PARISH COUNCILS|**£ 4,000.00**|**£**|**3,000.00**|3|ADVERTISING|**£ 5,002.00**||4| |PENRITH TOWN COUNCIL|**£ 1,500.00**||||MISC|**£ 54.33**||| |ONE LOTTERY|**£ 154.00**||||SHAP HALL RENT||**£ 40.00**|| |FRIENDS OF 106|**£ 185.00**|**£**|**515.00**||BALANCE CFWD|**£ 27,070.41**|**£ 18,607.71**|| |CBSSG GRANT||**£**|**3,984.76**|||||| |CHRISTMAS FAYRE|**£ 287.00**|**£**|**460.00**|||||| |EXTERNAL GRANTS|**£ 10,915.00**|||1||||| |AMAZON SMILE|**£ 53.61**|**£**|**37.60**|||||| |DONATIONS|**£ 231.46**|**£**|**25.00**|||||| |TOTAL|**£ 35,933.78**|**£ 22,320.88**||||**£ 35,933.78**|**£ 22,320.88**|| POINTS - 1 inspiring eden and cumbria bsog grant 2 £311.59 CBSSG grant cfwd used 3 PC payment after year end 4 leaflet design printing and delivery