12 June 2009 - Labour Halts Citybus Decision

Plymouth's Labour Councillors have today called a halt to the decision of the council's Cabinet to investigate the sale of Citybus by calling the matter in for further scrutiny.

Labour says it is responding to an astonishing week of revelations in which one Cabinet member, Ian Bowyer, has been forced to declare he holds a conflict of interest due to his shareholding in one of the companies looking to buy the council owned bus company. Councillor Bowyer had earlier failed to declare any interest at all whilst sitting in the Cabinet meeting that collectively decided to proceed with a project looking at disposing of shares. It has also come to light that he failed to ever declare a conflict of interest during his two years as a Director of Citybus despite holding shares in a company that is part of a group in competition with the bus company. Councillor Bowyer stood down from the Citybus Board shortly before the Cabinet decided to investigate the possible sale.

Labour is also angry that neither councillors outside the Cabinet, nor the customers, were consulted before the Cabinet made its move. ‘Plymouth Citybus is owned by the whole council and is not the sole domain or plaything of the Conservative Cabinet' said Cllr. Tudor Evans who is leading the call-in for Labour. ‘It is simply not good enough to charge into something which affects so many people's lives without properly consulting those who rely upon Citybus routes' he added, ‘a good many people need public transport and this council owns this bus company on their behalf. Not to consult with them first is a disgrace and proves the lie of the Tory claim that they are a listening council.'

Amid open declarations of interest to buy the company from rival companies Labour is concerned that the council is releasing sensitive information about Citybus into the public domain. Throughout two days of scrutiny investigations details about some of the content of Citybus's internal business plan have been openly stated along with details of the council's own commissioned valuation of the company. ‘Every time we ask questions about heavily subsidised services such as the Life Centre the whole issue gets slammed shut up in Part 2 papers, hidden away from public scrutiny', said Cllr. Evans. ‘In this case where we are talking about a highly profitable company people in the council are being remarkably loose lipped. The reputation of Citybus could be damaged by some of the statements made. I and my colleagues want to be very sure that the council isn't overstepping its legal and fiduciary responsibilities here.'

Councillor Chris Pattison who Chairs the council's Resources and Performance Scrutiny Panel said he was hardly surprised the decision would now go to the Scrutiny Commission which he also sits on. ‘We wasted time on this matter on Wednesday due to Councillor Bowyer's late declaration and the refusal of the Leader of the Council or any other Cabinet member to take his place and explain their actions' he said. ‘Their Conservative colleagues on the Panel then brought the debate to a premature closure via a procedural motion before all the questions could be asked. There are some seriously worrying details emerging from this process and we need to hear some explanations.'

The call-in now goes before the Council's Scrutiny Commission and must be heard within the next ten days.

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD

You can sign the petition against the sell off of Plymouth Citybus on the Downing Street website here.