Diamond Bus North West (DBNW) has successfully forced Manchester City Council (MCC) to reverse a decision that led to the closure of a section of Deansgate in the city centre. The U-turn came after MCC accepted that two Temporary Traffic Restriction Orders (TTROs) related to the closure contained âmanifest errors.â
The Rotala subsidiary has also received ÂŁ42,000 towards its costs of issuing court proceedings for judicial review of the closure decision. MCC approached DBNW one day before the court hearing was listed with an offer to reopen Deansgate to buses. The offer of payment towards the operatorâs legal fees was made after that.
Deansgate closure TTRO process was abused, says DBNW
Deansgate was closed between King Street and Blackfriars Street earlier in 2020 using a TTRO under coronavirus COVID-19 legislation. DBNW claimed that the TTRO was made to further MCCâs long-held objective of closing Deansgate permanently, not in response to the pandemic. It led to the firmâs buses having to take âcircuitous diversions via back streets.â
DBNW was advised by Backhouse Jones. Says Solicitor Libby Pritchard: âIf MCC is to close Deansgate permanently, it has to follow the correct process. That, among other things, will include a public consultation to allow interested parties to voice legitimate concerns, and the safety and mobility of passengers on diverted routes.
âDuring the proceedings, MCC accepted that the first two TTROs made contained manifest errors.
âOur application for permission for the decision to be judicially reviewed was accepted by the court on the basis that the application evidenced that there were grounds to show that the TTRO was made as a contrivance to further MCCâs long-term aim to close Deansgate to all traffic.â
The operator says that it requested meetings to discuss the Deansgate closure prior to beginning a legal challenge. They included with Cllr Angeliki Stogia, Executive Member for Planning, Transport and Development.
âIt is incorrect to put the blame for this legal case on DBNW. We simply used the judicial system to raise a challenge to MCCâs unlawful act. It is embarrassing that MCC is trying to blame its error on us,â the operatorâs statement continues.
Ms Stogia has refuted DBNWâs claims. She says that MCC believes that it has âacted properly throughout, with the best interests of both bus passengers and other city centre users at heart.â
Legal case âevidence of a need for franchisingâ, claim councillors
In response, MCC says it will accelerate the process towards permanent closure of the section of Deansgate that is at the centre of the row. It adds that Deansgate will be reopened âfor as short a period as possible.â
Bizarrely, Cllr Stogia and Cllr Marcus Johns have used DBNWâs victory as grounds to encourage the public to back calls for the introduction of bus franchising in Greater Manchester. A second consultation into reregulation of services is currently underway. It closes on 29 January 2021.
Cllr Johns says that DBNWâs legal challenge âis yet another case of the need to move quickly with franchising busesâ in Manchester. He adds that reregulation will allow MCC to âstart putting people before profit and build a better future for our city.â No explanation of the precise link between MCCâs wrongdoing and a need for franchising has been offered.
Cllr Stogia adds that it is âextremely frustratingâ that DBNW chose to challenge the TTRO. In a contradictory statement, she says that MCC should âbe discussing bus routes in partnership with operatorsâ before adding â in the same sentence â that the legal challenge is âanother illustration of why we need to bring bus routes back under public control.â