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RESOLVED: Cabinet;

1.   
Authorised procurement of a new bus shelter advertising
contract.

2.   
Endorsed the proposal that WNC funds the provision of new
shelters, subject to the Director of Finance approving the use of
capital once the actual costs are known.
 
REASONS RESOLVED:
1.   
Provided one consistent approach to providing and maintaining
bus shelters.
2.   
To maximise the potential for advertising revenue whilst
respecting the Council’s advertising policy, which seeks to
balance commercial and policy (particularly public health)
objectives.
3.   
To comply with public procurement law.
4.   
To enable the Council to add or remove bus shelters when it
considers it needs to do so.
 
ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS:

1.   
Option 1: Take no action. This would involve leaving shelters
under their current arrangements, including the expired AdShel
contract (or alternatively definitively ending that contract and
leaving any remaining shelters for WNC to maintain).

2.   
Option 2: WNC providing shelters itself, and separately
selling advertising space. To be attractive, this would require WNC
to be as efficient in delivering and maintaining shelters as the
operators are, and as effective at selling advertising as the
operators. This appears unlikely.

3.   
Option 3: Procuring an advertising concession contract as set
out above. This appears capable of delivering the service with the
greatest efficiency. There are two sub-options which need
consideration:
 
Option 3A: WNC does not fund
shelter provision except where it instructs new shelters not
proposed by the operator. This would require operators to fund all
capital costs, reducing revenue benefits. It would also leave
unresolved the issue of managing the risk of the need for mass
replacement of AdShel shelters.
Option 3B: WNC funds all new
shelter provision (including the mass replacement of AdShel
shelters if required). This should maximise revenue benefits, and
also provides a simple mechanism to address the risk of needing to
replace the AdShel shelters.
 

4.   
Option 4: Procuring several contracts. There is no obvious
benefit of operating more than one contract. Such an approach would
be likely to reduce operator interest and lose economies of
scale.