Rotala continues franchising appeal

Rotala has been granted permission to appeal on certain aspects of Manchester’s bus franchising case.

In March 2021, the company made a claim to the High Court of Manchester to judicially review a number of aspects of the consultation process carried out by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (‘GMCA’) which led to the decision of the Mayor to franchise the bus network. Stagecoach did the same.

On 9 March 2022, Mr Justice Julian Knowles rejected these arguments, dismissed the claim and refused to give leave to appeal. The company applied to seek permission to appeal the decision to the Court of Appeal which has now granted leave to appeal on certain aspects of the case.

The appeal hearing is expected to take place before August 2022.