Plans for electric bus depot in Peterborough hit by £10m+ funding gap as earmarked location falls through

Building and operating an electric bus depot in Peterborough could cost upwards of £32m, council officers say – far short of the £4m secured for the project so far.

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) was awarded the smaller sum by the Government in December, with the expectation that it would be allocated to various parts of the project this year.

But it “then became clear that the funding was insufficient to deliver an operational facility”, a CPCA report says, adding that Peterborough City Council (PCC) officers working on the project believe £15m will be needed to acquire a suitable site and construct the depot.

Providing 30 electric buses would then cost another £15m, it continues, while providing electricity infrastructure could exceed £2m more.

The future location of the bus depot is also now in doubt, with Nursery Lane having originally been earmarked.

But “constraints were identified that would adversely affect viability of development at that site”, the CPCA report says, although it still expects to help deliver an electric depot elsewhere in Peterborough.

Currently, the authority reports its project deficit for this as £11m – as not all of the £32m+ costs will come from it.

A private company could help provide the buses, for instance, or Government Zero Emissions Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) funding could be secured, the report says.

Or, if bus franchising plans come to fruition – which the CPCA is currently considering – the authority itself could contribute further.

In the meantime, the CPCA has committed to drawing down £200k extra funds for PCC to undertake further feasibility work, investigate funding models, establish site infrastructure requirements and come up with a specification for the site needed.

A preferred site is expected to be established by February next year, it says, while the work as a whole is expected to be finished by March.

Before the money was granted at a CPCA meeting this week, the authority’s leader, Dr Nik Johnson, asked for assurance that PCC is truly committed to delivering the project.

“I just need the reassurance that Peterborough City Council is really behind this,” he said.

Cllr Nigel Simons (Conservatives, Eye, Thorney and Newborough), sitting on the CPCA transport committee, responded that the council is “fully committed” and that there are “no issues at all there”.

Cllr Anna Smith (Labour, Coleridge) added that she wanted to emphasise the importance of the CPCA passing its Local Transport and Connectivity Plan (LTCP) to help them in helping deliver the depot

The document contains overarching transport plans for the region as well as specific plans for each part of it, but its progress has been slowed in part due to objections by PCC’s administration to references to congestion charging and other measures aimed at reducing private car use.

The plan must be passed by the CPCA’s board before it can be implemented, which includes PCC leader Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald (Conservatives, West).