The Northampton Gateway Rail Freight Interchange Order 2019

Articles 1 and 4

SCHEDULE 15 MEMBERSHIP, ROLE AND PROTOCOL OF THE SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT WORKING GROUP

1.  The Sustainable Transport Working Group (“STWG”) will comprise representatives of—

(a) the undertaker, who will normally take the Chair;

(b) the local highway authority;

(c) each of the district planning authorities within whose administrative area the Order limits lie;

(d) interested railway or bus operators (non-voting);

(e) travel plan co-ordinators for the individual warehouses (non-voting); and

(f) such other interested parties, stakeholders and expert bodies whose attendance members of the STWG may from time to time believe to be beneficial (non-voting),

except that if at the time the STWG is constituted or any time thereafter a unitary authority is stablished then paragraphs (b) and (c) will be replaced by both a highway representative and a planning representative of the unitary authority.

2.  The role of the STWG will be—

(a) to oversee the delivery of the framework travel plan and the public transport strategy;

(b) to review the public transport services serving the authorised development in light of levels of usage and timing of provision with the objective of maximising usage as set out in the public transport strategy;

(c) to decide upon the appropriate disbursement of monies from the bus service fund payable pursuant to the related provisions contained in the development consent obligation;

(d) to oversee the work of the area-wide Travel Plan Co-ordinator appointed under the provisions of the framework travel plan, receiving the monitoring and review reports on the performance of the framework travel plan and public transport strategy and recommending further action to maximise sustainable travel patterns in connection with the authorised development as deemed necessary;

(e) to consider all occupier-specific travel plans submitted pursuant to requirement 4(2) (sustainable transport) and to advise the relevant planning authority on their consistency with, and support for, the agreed measures and targets in the framework travel plan and public transport strategy; and

(f) to participate in any reviews of the framework travel plan and the public transport strategy.

3.—(1) The STWG will be administered by the undertaker in accordance with the following protocol.

(2) Meetings of the STWG will be convened, administered and serviced by the area-wide Travel Plan Co-ordinator appointed under the provisions of the framework travel plan.

(3) Meetings will take place at not more than 6 monthly intervals in a venue provided by the undertaker (or such other frequency, place and timing as the STWG members may subsequently agree upon).

(4) Not less than ten clear working days’ notice of meetings will be given to all parties accompanied by an agenda and background papers with relevant information for the matters to be considered.

(5) All members will have the right to propose an item to be discussed at the meeting under urgent business.

(6) A meeting will only be quorate if a representative from both the local highway authority and the undertaker is present.

(7) The area-wide Travel Plan Co-ordinator must minute each meeting and circulate copies of the minutes as soon as practical to all invited parties. Such minutes, once confirmed at the subsequent meeting, will become a matter of public record, subject to redaction of individual items of commercial or personal confidentiality.

(8) The STWG will at all times be free to consult with other relevant authorities and bodies and will at the election of any member be at liberty to invite persons to attend meetings in a non-voting capacity.

4.  Decisions of the STWG are to be taken on a majority vote with each voting member of the STWG present having a single vote. In the event of a vote causing an impasse, or if any of the voting members disagree with the decision made and wish it to be reviewed, the decision (the “disputed decision”) will be reviewed using the decision review mechanism set out in paragraph 5.

5.—(1) In the event of any disputed decision of the STWG being subject to review as provided by paragraph 4 the following protocol applies.

(2) The voting members involved in the disputed decision (“the relevant members”) will attempt to resolve the matter and reach agreement on the disputed decision if possible without delay.

(3) If the relevant members are unable to resolve the matter within three weeks of the disputed decision having been taken any relevant member may, by serving notice by email and recorded delivery post on all the other relevant members (“the notice”), with a copy to all other members of the STWG, within fourteen days of the expiry of the three weeks referred to above, or later by agreement between the relevant members, refer the disputed decision to an expert (“the expert”) for resolution.

(4) In order to refer the disputed decision to the expert the notice must specify—

(a) the nature, basis and brief description of the disputed decision; and

(b) the expert proposed.

(5) In the event that the relevant members are unable to agree whom should be appointed as the expert within 14 days after the date of the notice then any of the relevant members may request the President of the Law Society to nominate the expert at their joint expense.

(6) The expert will be appointed subject to an express requirement that the expert reaches a decision on how the disputed decision is to be resolved and communicates it to the relevant members within the minimum practicable timescale allowing for the process in sub-paragraph (7) and the nature and complexity of the disputed decision and in any event not more than 42 days from the date of the expert’s appointment to act.

(7) Following appointment the expert will be required to give notice to each of the relevant members inviting each of them to submit to the expert within 21 days written submissions and supporting material on their position in relation to the disputed decision with copies of those submissions and material being provided at the same time to the other relevant members. The expert will afford to each of the relevant members an opportunity to make counter submissions within a further 14 days in respect of any such submission and material.

(8) The expert when making the expert’s determination shall have regard to the contents of any relevant national planning or transport policy and any relevant transportation policy adopted by the local highway authority and, where relevant, any increase or decrease in the traffic including public transport and travel by other sustainable means arising from the authorised development compared with that presented in the transport assessment or such other assessment, automatic traffic counts or monitoring data as may be supplied by the relevant members.

(9) The expert will act as an expert and not as an arbitrator and the expert’s decision will (in the absence of manifest error) be final and binding on the relevant members and at whose cost will be at the discretion of the expert or in the event that the expert makes no determination, such costs will be borne by the relevant members in equal shares.