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The Guided Busway

Cambridgeshire chose a new transport system called a guided busway – a kind of (cheaper) halfway house between rail and road. Delays in the project meant that public opinion was critical of the project.guided bus
In June 2010 it was announced that there would be a review of the project, which was at that time still incomplete.

Below are two news items – the first published by the County Press Office, the second in the Cambridge News.

Compare the two points of view and comment on the language used to express the views.

A - County Press Office

GOVERNMENT AGREE WITH COUNCIL'S PLANS FOR BUSWAY REVIEW
"Department for Transport officials have supported senior councillors’ decision that the County Council will carry out a review of The Busway after the project is completed.
Norman Baker, the Department’s Under Secretary said last week that the delivery of The Busway, and how the contract for the scheme had worked, was a matter for the County Council.

As a matter of course the County Council reviews all major projects once they are completed to assess what went well and what could have been done differently, to see if there are any lessons to be learnt for projects in the future.

Senior councillors expect one of the Council’s cross party Scrutiny Committees will help carry out a review of The Busway project once completed. A public report is also expected to be presented to the Council’s Cabinet.

Part of the review will assess how the standard civil engineering contract the Council has with BAM Nuttall for the project has worked, and to see if there are any lessons to learn for organisations who use the contract in the future.

Councillors and transport bosses in charge of the project have said they will share the results of the public review with the DfT to help the Government conduct any policy review they may choose.

Roy Pegram, Cambridgeshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Growth, Infrastructure and Strategic Planning, said: “It is a good project management discipline to have a review once any major project has been completed to learn lessons for future schemes. The Busway will be no different, especially as BAM Nuttall’s delays in completing the final jobs, which are in our view relatively straightforward, have meant we have not yet been able to accept handover of the route.

“Our primary concern at the moment is to make sure BAM Nuttall complete the route to the high standards set in the contract so when we take on the route it is an asset for residents.

“Part of our review will fully explore why the contractor has not completed the route on time and if there are any lessons we can learn for us and other organisations planning to use this standard civil engineering contract in the future.”

B - Cambridge News

Review planned into what went wrong with busway

Transport bosses have set out plans for a public review of the guided busway scheme once it is up and running.

An opening date has still not been set for the beleaguered project and Cambridgeshire County Council chiefs launched a broadside against contractors BAM Nuttall last week after it emerged deadlines for getting defects sorted out were being missed.

A public inquiry into the controversial scheme was rejected by the Government  after Norman Baker, the Department for Transport’s under secretary, said how the project had fared was a matter for the county council.

Now the council has told the News how it will go about scrutinising what went wrong.

A review will be held and one of the key things it will look at is how the contract with BAM Nuttall for the project has worked and whether there are lessons to be learned for organisations which use the same type of contract in the future.

The contract is a standard type used by the Highways Agency and the Ministry of Defence and the council will share the results of its findings with the Government so its experience can be fed into any future policy review.

However, no special arrangements are expected to be set up for the review. It will be carried out by one of the council’s existing cross-party scrutiny committees. Meetings will be held in public and a public report will be presented to the authority’s cabinet.

The council said reviews of major projects are carried out as a matter of course and it did not want residents to think that the guideway’s problems would not be scrutinised.

The guided bus should have been finished in February 2009 and the council originally set aside £116 million for the scheme, the bulk of which was government funding.

But opening dates have come and gone and now wrangling between the council and BAM Nuttall is expected to end up in the courts.

The cost of the scheme has spiralled to £161 million and the authority has identified six defects including concerns about the foundations and flooding on the cycleway.

Cllr Roy Pegram, the council’s cabinet member for growth, infrastructure and strategic planning, said: “Our primary concern at the moment is to make sure BAM Nuttall completes the route to the high standards set in the contract so when we take on the route it is an asset for residents.

“Part of our review will fully explore why the contractor has not completed the route on time and if there are any lessons we can learn for us and other organisations planning to use this standard civil engineering contract in the future.”

To help you, here are some examples from the News article that might be considered critical:

  • what went wrong
  • the beleaguered project
  • launched a broadside against contractors
  • A public inquiry into the controversial scheme was rejected
  • should have been finished
  • wrangling between the council and BAM Nuttall is expected to end up in the courts.
  • The cost of the scheme has spiralled
  • six defects including concerns about the foundations and flooding on the cycleway
  

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