Warrington Borough Council, Warrington’s Own Buses

• The subsidy is valued at £43,940,842 and was therefore a Subsidy of Particular Interest. The purpose of the subsidy was to purchase a fleet of electric busses and chargers to then sell on to Warrington’s Own Buses at a nominal cost.
• Our key takeaways are:
  • The market failure analysis needs to focus on why the market is failing to deliver the policy objective, rather than why the recipient would not be able to deliver the policy objective in the absence of the subsidy.
  • Where there is an on-grant from central government subsidy, it is not sufficient for the recipient to rely on the existence of the grant funding to assess appropriateness. Substantive discussion of alternatives should still take place.
  • Ensure that the assessment of competition aspects is dynamic and forward-looking, considering the potential the market to change via the entry of new rivals.
  • In the balancing exercise step, examine how the market might change and factor any potential/future impacts into the final assessment.

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