The Forum was set up as part of the Southend-on-Sea Enhanced Partnership, following on from the Council's Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), which has been in place since October 2021.

The Local Bus Forum includes representatives from Southend-on-Sea City Council, adjoining Councils, the three local bus operators (Arriva, First and Stephensons), Southend Area Bus User Group, Bus Users UK, Southend BID, Essex Police, and Transport Focus.

As it is a meeting that is held in public, members of the public may attend to observe the meeting and are permitted to ask questions or make comments to the Forum.

The meeting will also be available to watch via a live webcast when possible.

How to ask questions at the meeting

Members of the public who wish to ask a question or make a statement must register by sending an email to the Secretary of the Southend Local Bus Forum at johnaustin@southend.gov.uk and send their comments or questions by email by 5.00pm no later than two working days before the start of the meeting.

The submitted questions and comments will then be reviewed by the Secretariat to ensure that there is no duplication: any questions which essentially duplicate others may be combined (in such cases the person submitting the question / comment will be contacted by the Secretary prior to the meeting to inform them of that.

If there is not enough time to ask and respond to all the questions and comments submitted some questions may be omitted.  In such circumstances, the Secretary will contact the person(s) whose questions were omitted.

If the person who has submitted the question / comment is not present at the meeting to ask it themselves, the submitted question / comment will be read out by the Secretary.

Any member of the public asking questions or making comments will have no more than 3 minutes in which to speak.

Please contact the Secretary if you would like to know more at johnaustin@southend.gov.uk.