In July 2020 government announced that under the Towns Fund programme they were offering Hereford a grant of £750,000 to fund capital projects that can be delivered this financial year. This grant will be used to support capital spend within the intervention framework as set out in the Towns Fund Further Guidance.

The expenditure will be included within the medium term financial strategy and capital programme.

The business case details the revenue impact of the project which will be managed within current revenue budgets. There is no additional funding requirements, with all projects managed within existing teams for delivery.

The bike share scheme implemented by the Council’s delivery partner was launched in July 2019 and has had a very successful year, enabling affordable and convenient access to cycling. To date over 800,000 local journeys have been made, covering over 200,000km.

By adding an e-bike share scheme we aim to support people who may be less confident or less physically able to ride a conventional bike. E-bikes will also enable people to make longer journeys, potentially replacing journeys that would otherwise have been made by car.

The proposed contract will be for the extension of existing supplies or installations. A change of supplier would require the Council to acquire supplies with different technical characteristics which would result in incompatibility.

This report seeks approval to engage Beryl to deliver and manage the e-bike bike share scheme by a direct award.

The Towns Deal Accelerated Fund needs to be spent by 31 March 2021

The existing bike share contract will come to an end in 2022 allowing the council to re-procure the whole service including eBikes as a part of a single exercise in 2021 ahead of the contracts expiring in 2022.