The Transition Director has submitted a report following an award to the Council  of £671,550 from the Joint Air Quality Unit, DEFRA to retrofit buses in Oxford with emissions reduction equipment, in the interest of improving air quality. This report seeks project approval.

Recommendations: That Cabinet resolves to:

1.    Grant project approval for the bus retrofit programme outlined in this report; and

2.    Delegate to the Transition Director, in consultation with the Monitoring Officer and Section 151 officer, the authority within the funding envelope of £671,550 provided within the Council’s capital programme and funded from external grant  to enter into:

a)    appropriate agreements with  the Council’s bid partners; and

b)    third parties required to deliver the project subject to their being selected under an appropriate procurement process.

The Transition Director had submitted a report following an award to the Council  of £671,550 from the Joint Air Quality Unit, DEFRA to retrofit buses in Oxford with emissions reduction equipment, in the interest of improving air quality. The report sought project approval.

The Cabinet Member for Zero Carbon Oxford, Councillor Tom Hayes, introduced the report. This report was not just about the immediate financial advantage of the award.  It was, more fundamentally, another measure which would  make a demonstrable improvement to the city’s air quality and, consequently, to people’s health, and was, thus, aligned with the Council’s values.  Transport emissions generally were the biggest source of poor air quality and buses contributed more to that than anything else.

Cabinet resolved to:

1.Grant project approval for the bus retrofit programme outlined in the report; and

2.Delegate to the Transition Director, in consultation with the Monitoring Officer and Section 151 officer, the authority within the funding envelope of £671,550 provided within the Council’s capital programme and funded from external grant  to enter into:

a)appropriate agreements with the Council’s bid partners; and

b)third parties required to deliver the project subject to their being selected under an appropriate procurement process.