Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Thursday 18 September 2025, 7:30pm

Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Thursday, 18th September 2025 at 7:30pm

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1 Minutes of the Previous Meeting

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2 Declarations of Interests

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3 Electric Vehicle Charging (Paper No. 25-303)

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25-303 - Report and Appendix

4 School Streets Monitoring and Progress Update (Paper No. 25-304)

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25-304 - Report

5 Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee: Work Programme (Paper No. 25-305)

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25-305 - Report and Appendix 1

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Disclaimer: This transcript was automatically generated, so it may contain errors. Please view the webcast to confirm whether the content is accurate.

Good evening, everyone, and welcome to this meeting of the Transport Overview and Scrutiny

Committee.

As you see, this meeting is being webcast.

My name is Councillor Jack Milgus, and I'm the chair of this Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

I would like to put on record my thanks to Councillor Lawless for stepping in last meeting.

Members of the committee, I will now call your names in alphabetical order.

Please switch on your microphone to confirm your attendance.

Once you've confirmed your attendance, remember to switch it off.

So in alphabetical order, Councillor Belton.

Good evening.

Tony Belton, Battersea Park Ward, Battersea.

Councillor Cooper.

Present and correct.

Councillor Cooper.

Councillor Critchard.

Hi, Anne -Marie Critchard, Councillor for Two -Tien.

in the Tooting constituency.

Councillor de la Sejour.

Present.

Councillor Hamilton.

Hello, good evening, Daniel Halton.

Present.

Councillor Lawless.

Present.

Councillor Locher.

Councillor Locher for Thamesfield Ward.

Thank you.

Councillor Owens.

Councillor Owens for the Northcott Ward.

Thank you.

And Councillor Tiller.

Yeah, Councillor Tiller for Hampton Ward.

And we also have of course Councillor Yates who is the cabinet member for

transport. I don't see any apologies. As with before please make sure you do turn

the microphones off unless you're speaking. We have a number of officers

who are present who will introduce themselves when they address the

committee. I'd also like to welcome colleagues from London councils who will

be introduced by our officers at the relevant paper.

And I can't see Amanda.

Oh, sorry, Amanda from Beatrix Potter

and we'll introduce her properly as well

when we get to that paper.

So thank you guys for making the time to come this evening.

First agenda item is the minutes.

1 Minutes of the Previous Meeting

So the minutes of the last meeting of this committee

which were held on Thursday the 19th of June 2025.

Is everyone happy for me to sign those

2 Declarations of Interests

there's a correct record. Perfect. Agenda item number two, any declarations of

interests? Councillor Cooper? Thank you, Chair. I don't consider this to be a

pecuniary interest but just for transparency I'm the London Assembly

member for Merton and Wandsworth and obviously the Greater London Authority

of which the assembly is part also includes transport for London which is

mentioned in several places in the papers. Thank you very much I don't see

any others so I'll move on to agenda item number three which will be

3 Electric Vehicle Charging (Paper No. 25-303)

introduced by Andy Flood and he will introduce colleagues from London

councils and say and you'll speak then colleagues from London councils will

speak and then we can take questions and questions can be fielded to to anyone

that's spoken. Thank you. Thank you chair. My name is Andy Flood. I'm principal

transport planner in the transport strategy team and Mr. Tiddley who I'm

sure you all know very well. This paper is about electric vehicle charging

infrastructure and also other ways to improve access to EV charging for

residents. There's a lot of things going on in this area and I think one of the

key issues for discussion within the paper and for the committee is going to be the issue

of the availability of grants, which has been made available by a national government for

cross -pavement charging products and policy relating to that issue.

So just to give a little bit of overview of council policy in general prioritises active

public transport rather than vehicular travel private motor vehicles.

However, motor vehicles will remain a necessary mode for many journeys.

And in that case, the policy is to switch from

internal combustion engine to electric vehicles.

And the paper summarises how there is an environmental benefit to that over the full life cost of a vehicle.

and the electric vehicles do have a full life benefit in terms of carbon emissions

and of course there's also zero tailpipe emissions so they're good for local air quality improvements as well.

Wandsworth has the fourth highest number of public charge points among all London boroughs

behind Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham and Southwark

And there are 527 charge points for the 100 ,000 population,

which is roughly double the London average.

The number of electric vehicles registered

does continue to grow, and it has grown

at different rates over recent years.

But at the moment, there are about 8 %

of all vehicles registered in Wandsworth

are plug -in electric of some type.

Now that may be hybrid electric vehicles or pure battery electric vehicles.

So 4 % of the total is battery electric.

The annual growth rate has slowed in recent years, and some of that is largely to do with

the availability of vehicles and the cost and availability of charging infrastructure.

And, but despite the slow, sorry, the reduction in the growth rate, there's still significant

annual growth.

And all the forecasts indicate that there will be, for example, the NEVIS, the National

EV Insights and Support Service predicts that under even their lowest growth for Wandsworth,

that there will be something like one in five cars in 2030 will be battery electric vehicles.

So that indicates a need for increased charging provision of whatever kind

so that the public have access to charging when they need it.

For a number of years, the council has provided under various contracts

public charging facilities on the street

and different types of charge points

of different capacities.

The vast majority of these are lamp column charge points

fitted to existing infrastructure

so that it doesn't add to street clutter

and it uses an existing power supply

which is easier to get in.

And that's suitable for many uses of EVs,

particularly for overnight charging in residential areas where you can plug in for a long period

and the 5 kilowatt capacity is more than sufficient for you.

We've also got programmes of freestanding charge points of 7 kilowatt and 22 kilowatt and TFL

has provided rapid charge points on its network and there's also some charge points have been

provided in housing land, both new developed housing land and retrofitted to existing estates.

We also try to, in the lamp column programme, we analyse where they are close to housing

estates and try to serve those housing estates with charge points on the highway network

so that there is nearby charging for those estates.

If I may just put on the screen, bear with me one moment.

I just put a table showing the breakdown of these public charge points by ward.

It's in the paper as well in table four on page six.

Generally speaking, we have a form on the council website where residents can request

charge points near them, and we've had more than 4 ,300 requests via this method.

And we've delivered more than 1 ,650 public charge points.

Generally speaking, the distribution is proportionate to where the demand is, but also we're trying

to try to fill in where there are gaps.

And total provision is actually in advance

of the NEVIS projections for EV infrastructure need

at the moment.

Now that's not to say that there aren't areas

that are less well served or that people can always

access charge points when they want to.

If I can scroll down to get the other boards in.

Apologies, committee, there we are.

If I could move to, I'm just going to share a series of maps

just showing the distribution from a map -based point of view.

This is from ZAP Map, which is a public website

which has all charge points that are available

to the public in the country.

This is actually not a screenshot,

but it's actually the ZapMap website itself.

I can scroll out a little bit.

Or, in fact, if I just stop sharing that one,

I'll move to what I intended.

First of all, which was the screenshots.

Bear with me. Here we are.

Okay.

So there's a series of three screen shots here, starting with the west of the borough,

then I'll go to the east of the borough and then the south of the borough.

So every one of these icons represents an individual charge point.

The different colours will relate to different speeds of charge point, and the yellow ones,

As I said, the vast majority of charge points which are the lump column charge points.

There are some pockets, for example, in West Putney you can see there's some streets which

don't have a lot of provision.

Some of the other gaps, of course, are in commons or parks, so you wouldn't expect anything.

Also on the riverside, many of the new developments there, they require residential charge points.

provision within their planning permission.

So they aren't public charge point serving residents.

They're provided off street for the benefit

of the residents who live there,

so they wouldn't be showing on this map.

Just moving to the east of the borough similarly.

Again, there are a few pockets in,

and around, for example,

around the Patmore Estate, some in just even quite near here

in the Tomsleys, and you'll see that there's a very high

concentration in the Lavender Ward, which is a legacy

of when we delivered all charge points at every single

possible lamp column as a project in a previous phase

in advance of the expansion of the ULEZ to the south circular at that time.

And then the final one of these is in the south of the borough.

And again, quite widespread coverage, but there are some pockets which will be addressed

in future phases.

Our EV charging contracts with charge point operators are delivered in contract phases,

and we review outstanding requests and gaps in the network at the start of each phase

to try and best meet existing and future demand.

The standalone charge points of 7 kilowatt and 22 kilowatt are provided by, at the moment,

by Total Energies, which is a source London network, and Believe, which are formerly Liberty

Charge.

And in the case of LampCon charge points, we've delivered those under a series of contracts

supported by government grants of various type, as detailed in the report.

These contracts, some of the earlier contracts have expired or are expiring.

And that means that the tariffs associated

with those original contracts have changed over time.

And that's summarised in the paper.

And the tariffs that have been dropping out are historic ones

which would not be offered by any contractor now.

They predate the energy price crisis and the current tariffs are much more representative

of the current market conditions.

It's important also to note that some apps that people use do charge a premium on top

of the tariffs.

So the people may want to use an app for various reasons.

It may keep their billing in one place.

But the pay as you go rate will often be cheaper than the one offered by an app.

And that's usually accessed via a QR code.

So in terms of public charging, we have a current procurement exercise where we're about

toward a contract for 122 kilowatt charge points, which should be delivered early next

year.

This will be fully funded by the operator and TFL is also adding more

investigating sites for more rapid charging on its network and a

Significant further phase is forthcoming as well via OSEF. That's the Office of Zero Emission Vehicles

Levi funding project Levi stands for the local electric vehicle infrastructure and

And to access this fund, councils were required to join up in partnership with each other.

It was an OSEV requirement and Wandsworth has partnered with Richmond and Merton for

the Levi project and we propose to put Wandsworth's share into a minimum of 400 new Lamcrom charge

points, a minimum of 200 FAST, 7 to 22 kilowatt charge points, and a minimum of 20 rapid charge

points and at least 40 of the fast charge points would serve housing estates.

And we expect that procurement for that will commence early next year.

So far I've spoken about the numbers of charge points, but another way to improve access

to charging is not just to add new charge points, it's to make it easier to access the

existing charging infrastructure that's out there.

And all lamp column charge points in the borough were originally implemented without any dedicated parking bays next to them.

And the thought that we would have sufficient in an area that people would be able to access charging when they needed it.

And people do not need to charge, generally they do not need to charge a vehicle every day.

It might be once or twice a week.

In practise, some lamp column charge points are blocked regularly by non -EV vehicles and

we did a trial which was reported in paper 23219 where 15 bays were made permanent following

that trial because they showed a significant increase in utilisation.

It was an increase in utilisation of 250%, in fact,

compared to a background increase in use of other sites of 66%.

So something like three to four times as much utilisation through dedicating a bay.

So we plan to roll out 50 to 100 more dedicated bays at locations where we have

received information from residents that they find it difficult to access those

that charging infrastructure.

So that's a way of improving access to charge points without actually adding more charge

points.

Moving on to home charging, I mentioned tariffs earlier.

People who have access to their own off -street parking space, they can secure cheaper electricity

than those using public charging, not least because the rate of VAT charged on public

charging is 20 % and the rate of VAT charged on domestic energy is 5%.

The price differential does mean there's a growing number of requests from people who

would like to charge from their home but they don't have access to off -street parking.

Some people do so by running a cable from their own domestic supply across the pavement,

Either covered with a cable cover or sometimes not.

This is not permitted under the Highways Act 1980.

However, the council is currently not pursuing enforcement action where it does not consider

where it's safely positioned and where a cable cover is used.

And residents are advised to have public liability insurance to cover them in this situation.

It is not an ideal practise because a cable cover

does still present some change in level for pedestrians.

More recently, and this is the thing that I alluded to

at the start of the paper,

the products have been developed by providers

which enable cables to be laid within the footway

without any change in level.

So these are cable gully products

or cross -pavement solutions, as the government describes them,

where the cable is inserted into the gully

and stays there very flush and can be used to plug

in a car parked at curbside.

And once the car has been fully charged,

the cable can be removed and taken into the property.

Some councils have conducted trials of these products or moved to a wider roll out.

So far in Wandsworth the approach has been to focus on public charging that caters for

the maximum number of people rather than serving an individual.

But we'll come on to the government grant that's been announced a little bit later on.

One other thing about cross -payment channels or gullies like this is it seems a very simple

solution but there are pros and cons with it and there are benefits and disbenefits.

College from London Councils, who I'll introduce shortly, London Councils produced some very

helpful guidance which is included as the appendix, some of it is in the appendix of

paper, setting out some of the challenges and also some of the benefits of allowing

cross -payment gullies.

Some of the more obvious benefits would enable more people to have access to charging infrastructure

and therefore potentially encourage them to switch from an ICE vehicle to an electric

vehicle.

It would also potentially reduce the risk associated with those people who are currently

tempted to run a cable, covered or otherwise,

across the footpath.

And also, it might, in some cases,

where a resident might consider paving their garden

for an off -street parking space,

it might be a preferable and less expensive

and less destructive option for those.

But there are numerous challenges.

It's not something that can be done everywhere.

You would need a legal parking space

exactly outside your house if in some cases there's parking allowed on one side of the

street and not on another.

So only one side of the street would be eligible.

It's not suitable for those living in flats or on estates or where parking is not permitted.

There are also issues surrounding long -term maintenance and electrical safety because

You're bringing somebody's personal home electrical supply into public highway space

And the London Council's guidance also highlights how planning permission is required for any dedicated charge point that would be installed

associated with with the cross -payment valley because permitted development rights only apply if you have off -street parking and

There's a summary in the paper of

of three boroughs including Richmond,

which officers know well, summarising the fees

that they currently charge for the rollout

of pavement gullies.

I mentioned some of the risks or challenges.

Many of those, in fact all of them,

can be mitigated by use of the licence approach.

So in Richmond and the other boroughs mentioned,

Enfield and some other boroughs across the country, they require a Section 178 licence,

that's under the Highways Act 1980, which permits the resident signs up to certain conditions

to use the gully.

And fees can be charged for the licence, which can help cover ongoing maintenance costs or

removal if it's no longer needed.

So, because the government sees merit in these products, they have announced a significant

grant scheme, 25 million across England and Wales, and they've used a formula to allocate

grants to councils.

And one's with allocation under this formula is 131 ,000 pounds.

grants.

The allocation still needs the council to apply to use it and say how it's going to

be used.

But there's no time limit on when the grant needs to be spent.

The application does need to be submitted, however, by the end of October.

Now it's up to each authority whether or not to permit cross -payment products or to even

apply for the allocated grant.

and some authorities may not take up the grant and may not wish to allow cross -pavement gullies.

And the availability of the grant, however, has increased some the number of requests

from residents that officers are receiving about the possibility of having a cross -pavement

product outside their house.

Officers are minded to apply for the grant and on the assumption that it would be returnable

or not paid if the council decided not to proceed.

In applying for the grant, each local authority can say how they would like to use the grant.

It may be that the maximum amount per installation, £1 ,200, which is only for capital costs rather

than any other costs that may be incurred by the Council, for example, officer time.

It's up to Council whether to have a limit on the grant payable per installation that

is lower than the maximum of 1 ,200, which would make the grant go further, or it may

be that there's the best approach is to work on a first come, first serve basis, because

it could well be that there's significant time before the grant would be exhausted,

even if the maximum grant were paid per installation.

There isn't expected to be a further funding round for the grant, but additional grant

could become available because we're not expecting

every authority to take up their full allocation.

So one thing for discussion I think is

committees to discuss the principles of the grants

and whether to proceed with an application

and how to use the grant when an application is made.

Finally the papers, it just briefly summarises

some of the other developments, so ongoing issues,

which is the council's planning policy requires electric charging within new developments,

new residents develops in line with London Plan, and the council's estate is rolling

out additional charge points to help electrify the council's fleets and contractors, and

also council public charge points were in the process of scoping the needs of car parks

with a view to tender for an operator in 2026.

The appendix to the paper summarises

some of the information from the London Council's

guidance on cross -payment products,

and I think that's probably a good time for me

to introduce the officers from London Council,

who've kindly come tonight.

So firstly, I'll introduce Mark Fletcher,

and then Richard Evans,

to discuss their role and any further thoughts on the issues raised so far.

Well, hello, thank you for the opportunity to come and speak to you today.

I'm Mark Fletcher, I'm the EV lead at London Councils.

As Andy set out, I won't go over the contents of the report,

but just to give you a bit of background as to why we

saw fit to produce our report on cross -footway charging.

It's an area of policy and development

which I think is changing quite rapidly.

These products exist.

It's an issue which local authorities are looking

to come to terms with and have felt

that they haven't necessarily had the information that they

needed to be able to make informed decisions as to whether

and how to roll out this type of infrastructure.

So in the absence of that, we've produced our report, which, as Andy says, sets out

some of those challenges, whether a local authority does or doesn't decide to go ahead

with them.

There's pros and cons of the decision both to and not to.

So we've looked to capture those and to support that decision -making.

one of the things that we're clear about at London Councils is that the decision to

proceed or not with these should rest with the local authority and shouldn't be driven

by government policy or any other considerations.

It is a local decision where local authorities know their areas best and what is suitable

in the mix of charging provision and wider transport planning and infrastructure.

So it was it with that sort of thought in mind, we've looked to take an informative

approach, one that doesn't recommend or not proceeding with these, that simply looks to

inform and create awareness of the sort of things that need to be taken into account,

and also sets out some of the further asks of national government where we feel that

so they can provide some more clarity

and guidance of issues around planning

and other such matters.

I'll introduce my colleague, Richard.

Hi, yep, Richard Evans.

I'm a Policy and Project Officer

in the EV team at London Councils.

I think both Mark and Andy have summarised the report.

I played a leading role in writing and researching

for that report and I would be happy

to answer further questions on that as part

of this general discussion.

Okay. Thank you to Andy, Mark and Richard

for introducing that so thoroughly.

I would now just, yeah, open, open to questions or discussion.

Obviously, this is a collaborative forum.

If you are asking a question, please do make it clear whether it's for Andy or colleagues

from London councils.

Councillor Hamilton.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much for the information in the report and the presentations this evening.

I thought it was an extremely interesting and informative report.

It's good to hear that Wandsworth is performing so well set against the London backdrop.

I would be quite interested to understand, because in the pre -meeting of Mr. Tidley,

he did mention there was quite a significant difference in the number of EVs in the London

borough of Hanneseth and Fulham, all while the chargers compared to others.

So I'd just be interested to know why they are so far ahead of other boroughs, if there's

anything from a policy perspective they've done to bring that about.

But I think more fundamentally, I wanted to touch upon the point about the charging gullies.

I think there is, it's clearly going to be an issue that I think will attract quite a lot of attention from residents.

We're all familiar when we're out canvassing, knocking on doors, going about our day to day lives with a number of these wires that are draped across pavements.

Some of them look perfectly fine, some of them look I think slightly dangerous for those who are walking along the street, particularly those who are using mobility devices or maybe aren't steady on their feet.

So I think there is some merit in looking at these gullies.

The question I would have is looking at this trial and the £131 ,000 which is proposed

to be dedicated to this in Wandsworth, that we do go ahead and apply for that funding.

I wonder if it might be worth considering a trial of this which doesn't focus on a

sort of patchwork quilt of these in various parts of the borough, but rather focuses in

one area or one ward perhaps on a trial basis. I say that because I'm not at this

stage entirely convinced about the public popularity of this scheme going

forward. I don't know what the take -up will be across the board but I think

actually charling it in one ward for example which might have a difference in

terms of the type of residential roads which may have some variety and

might allow us to actually draw some better conclusions about the popularity

the attractiveness of this scheme. I'd also be interested from a fees charged perspective,

I noticed that the figures charged for the installation of these gullies in Bromley,

Enfield and Richmond ranges from about £1 ,000 to £1 ,250. I'd just be interested in the

actual cost to the council for installing those. And similarly, I think there was mention

made in the paper that these gullies can be removed if people for example move

away or no longer want to utilise them. I'd be interested to know what the costs

are associated with doing that as well. You know whether people have put these

things in taken them out but also what the ongoing maintenance required for

these is and I say that because I'm I appreciate it's a much larger case but I

look at the abandoned infrastructure that we see on our steep streets in

of the things like phone boxes, which aren't maintained over time, which are and I saw.

And I wouldn't like to think that if we were to go down a route of installing some

of these, that if there was a new technology that came along in the next few years that

made even these obsolete, it would be stuck with these on pavements all the way across

the borough.

So I think it's a good idea to consider, but I think it's one that needs to be worked

through.

And if there's one final thing, I think it would be great to see more information

I think that the

recommendation of the committee would be a bit of an assessment

of where these will be viable and where they wouldn't be.

I can well imagine wards like

Ballym, Lavender, maybe widespread use of these would

be possible.

I think residents will want to see some kind of document from

I take that chair.

A few points there.

I think let's take the last one first.

I think officers would say these are possible anywhere that there is a legal parking space

outside the property.

The property is ground floor so that the cable is trailing from a ground floor to the curbside

parking and that the footpath is not too wide so

that the cable gully is not exceeding the maximum width.

It's usually about six metres, so that's a very wide footpath possibility.

There's also other constraints about where you can put them to minimise risk of electrical safety issues.

For example, the guidance is that they should not be within 2 .5 metres

of other electrical metal equipment on the footway.

So you wouldn't be able to instal one within 2 .5 metres

of a lamppost, for example.

We'd seek to avoid ones near to trees

because of the lifting of risk of tree roots

close to a cable gully.

So there are a number of locations

that they aren't suitable for.

but not really on a geographical basis,

4 School Streets Monitoring and Progress Update (Paper No. 25-304)

Okay.

Okay, moving on to agenda item number four, which is the school streets monitoring and

progress update paper number 25 -304.

So Raphael Younger will be presenting this and I believe we have Amanda Robertson who's

the head teacher at Beatrix Potter.

You're very welcome.

Thank you for coming.

Over to you guys.

Thank you, Chair.

I'm Rafael Junge, a transport planner in the transport strategy team.

This is Amanda Robertson, the head teacher of Beatrix Potter School in Aylesfield.

And I'm here to present the paper, the School Street paper update to provide information

and mainly to seek input and views of, from the members on how we can best expand the

programme.

I'm sure you all read the paper, but I'm going to run through all the key points.

We're going to start with some background on the programme.

The main aims of the programme is to reduce traffic outside the school gate, to improve

air quality, reduce pollution, reduce inconsiderate parking and dangerous manoeuvres, and encourage

active travel.

The programme was launched in 2020.

We started engagement with schools in 2019, but obviously the pandemic kind of delayed

the launch.

And during the pandemic, the programme expanded quite rapidly.

In terms of the process, how we work is that once a year, we send an invitation to all

the remaining schools in the borough that haven't, that they're still not on the programme.

We invite them to express interest to join the programme and raise their road safety concerns.

Schools that come back to us, we start engaging with the head teacher and the governing body

just to understand what are these concerns.

Then we design a scheme.

We take it, we start engagement with residents and the school community and we take it to

informal consultation.

and if supported, we then launch a trial

under a temporary traffic order,

which can last up to 18 months.

And during the trial, we allow feedback

from residents and parents,

which then we can take into account

when we make the decision whether to make it permanent,

to make some changes to the scheme,

or to remove it altogether.

We've got 30 schemes across Wandsworth.

They're serving 32 schools, 31 primary schools and one secondary school.

And following feedback from residents and parents in recent phases, we started to deliver

complementary measures such as new zebra crossings around the school, changes to lining such

as school keep clear and WLO lines, wider pavement,

installing seating, cycle parking, and bollards.

In terms of enforcement, we use various methods.

We usually start with barriers

that are managed by volunteers.

can be either parents or members of staff.

Some schools use unmanned barriers

where the school staff take the physical barrier

onto the carriageway at the beginning of the restricted time

and then take it back into the school at the end.

Some schemes are enforced just by signage

and obviously we've got ANPR camera enforced schemes.

Every site and every school community is very different.

Some schools are keen on camera enforcement,

some others aren't.

Some prefer to stay with physical barriers.

We've got 11 schemes in the borough

that some of them already operating for five,

have been operating for five years

and they're still using physical barriers.

Many residents oppose ANPR cameras due to concerns related to deliveries or the impact of traffic displacement on roads in the wider area.

From experience, we know that these concerns do not really materialise, and data that we've

got show us that traffic displacement is insignificant.

In terms of compliance, ANPR schemes on main roads, so we've got, for example, OpenView

We have a scheme on Franciscan Road and on Selling Court Road.

So we see big impact on through traffic volume.

Where we have ANPR enforcement on residential roads such as outside of Penworthy, Hillbrook,

Faresdown, we see big impact on parents' behaviour.

So we see that parents stop driving all the way to the school gate adopting

park and stride or just active travel.

Across all ANPR enforced schemes we see high compliance but obviously ANPR

camera enforcement come with investment in equipment,

management and maintenance.

And as officers, we were kind of keen to explore other

effective methods to achieve kind of good compliance.

So last year we started a trial using the council

mobile CCTV vehicles where we saw big saving on equipment

and maintenance, although still required management of exemption lists.

And the other issue was obviously the availability of the vehicles.

But going forward from September, we've got in place an enforcement schedule that will

see regular enforcement across the three schemes

that participated in the trial last year.

And we're gonna introduce this to two other schemes

during this academic year.

We also trialled using different signage with flashing lights.

These signage, the feedback from drivers

from and other road users were very good.

they provide a lot of clarity on operational hours,

which obviously leads to better compliance.

And although the compliance is much better

than standard signage that we use,

that we regularly use, it's not as good as ANPR cameras.

Entry treatments, this is another tool

that we started to introduce,

raising awareness to the programme

and giving drivers kind of visual cues

that more attention and cautious

is required around the school.

Also increases the uniformity across the programme.

We've installed entry treatments

in three schemes back in August

and we'll introduce them to five other schemes

in the coming months.

In terms of programme expansion, earlier in 2025 we hit the target of having schemes serving more than 50 % of our primary schools.

The remaining schools are either on main roads, private roads, bus routes,

or we did have a number of occasions that proposed schemes failed during consultation

or during the engagement with residents.

And we do have a small number of schools that declined taking part in the programme due to

concerns related to relationship with residents, impact on the student roles or impact on staff

parking. We've already started to engage with secondary schools and independent

schools in the borough. We've delivered the first secondary school scheme that

serves secondary school before the summer and we planning to further engage

with other schools in the coming months as part of the seventh phase of

the programme. This is Amanda Robertson. She's the head teacher of Beatrix Potter in Aylesfield,

School Street School. And I invite you to give me a few.

Hi, everyone. I'm just going to give you a brief walkthrough of our lived experience

of the School Street. So I joined the school in 2021 as head teacher. And I inherited a

school that had been through a very traumatic experience a year before.

So I think some of you are nodding your heads and

you know that there was an absolutely horrendous accident.

Where a parent lost control of their car at the school gate and

hit several children, many of whom were seriously injured.

There were thankfully no mortalities, but I definitely inherited

a traumatised school that had already reached out to school streets.

and so the process had begun.

And interestingly, even before it,

we actually sort of got really going,

which was in November 22.

There was another accident on Open View again,

which thankfully was outside of school hours,

but a car had flipped over and was on its roof.

And with an already traumatised parental group,

that really kind of raised the anxiety even further.

So when we began, the first thing that we did

was be a part of the consultation,

and I think we all know from lived experience

that consultation is a really important part of it.

So we've been able to bring our residents along with us,

and I think they all know what happened

at Beatrix Potter as well.

So that's been an important part.

And the very first thing that we then went to

was the volunteers taking the barriers into the road

that Rafael was just describing,

which was absolutely excellent.

And it created immediately this very safe space.

And we actually had sort of children

who were really delighted, families that really delighted.

And we had to, because the road was completely blocked off,

we had children sort of going into the road and so on.

And we had to do quite a little bit of education about,

you have to still treat it as a road nonetheless.

However, it was an absolute success.

But in our school community,

our parents are almost all working,

and our staff are in receiving the children.

We don't have the luxury of additional staff

to send out to man barriers.

So after a little while, we had to take the barriers down,

and the idea was that residents would have got used to it,

drivers that go that way will have learned

that you can't go at that time of day.

However, once we took the barriers away,

lo and behold, very, very quickly,

the road became populated by cars again,

very, very quickly.

And by and large, the initial signage we felt

was not being seen or being ignored.

So we then went to the next stage and there was a lot of back and forth between us.

And there has been since the beginning really.

And that was the signage with the flashing lights.

And I think that brought a little bit of difference but it definitely wasn't enough for us.

And we also had kind of times where the lights weren't working and then we perhaps didn't always realise that.

So there were a few logistical problems around that as well.

So we did go to ANPR and that definitely did make a difference.

So there was a drop, but even still with ANPR, you've still got some people, some drivers

that either don't see it, genuinely don't see it, and I know that because we often stop

them and have a conversation with them and they've got no idea.

Or they're just choosing to say, I'll pay the fine, it doesn't matter.

So we're now at a point where we have agreed a next stage, which I think will be really,

really effective, which will be where we've got the entry colours at the two beginnings

off the school street so that it really flags up for drivers that this is

something different and you need to pay attention and you need to look. So we

will still have our signs and I believe we'll still have our flashing lights.

They're going to be moved slightly. We have had a lot of planters put in as

well again to really kind of draw attention to this this part of the road

looks different and you need to stop and you need to pay attention.

So we're waiting for that part to happen.

Again, the consultation on that has been really interesting.

When the consultation went out to the residents,

part of the plan was to put benches for people to sit and relax in,

sort of near the school street.

I immediately got and you immediately got feedback saying,

Please don't put benches there, because it's going to promote teenagers' loitering.

And they didn't feel they wanted that.

So that was something that the school streets team could listen to

and make adaptations on.

And just as equally, unfortunately, the planters went out a little bit

before the consultation by accident.

So there was a little bit of an unrest about that.

However, they are going to be properly planted up and so on.

So that's where we are.

Overall, it's been a really positive journey.

I would strongly recommend that every single school has a school street.

It's made a huge difference to us.

It's making a difference.

It's going to get better.

And it's really, really supported the sort of anxiety

that our parental community feel because of their lived experience.

but actually, you know, that's a real risk for every school.

Thanks both, and thanks Rafael.

I know that you and your team put in a huge amount of work

going back and forth between schools, between residents,

and it's painstaking work and it clearly pays off.

I'm also 90 % sure that I volunteered manning those barriers at Beatrix Potter.

I have to dig out the photo.

Councillor Locker to start please.

Thank you.

Yes, actually, thank you very much for the presentation.

I vividly remember the day.

I was cabinet member here at the council.

I vividly remember the day because I was called up

by officers and told there'd been an accident at that stage.

We didn't know how many people were hurt

and how seriously they were hurt.

So I vividly remember it and I'm glad

that things have improved so much

and that School Street is implemented.

And just on Councillor Majorca's point,

I do want to just put on thanks, sorry,

put on record my thanks to various volunteers

and organisations in those early days

of setting up school streets in 2020 and 2021.

We were very much dependent on volunteers,

some of them may have been in this room,

who would go out at the various schools

and take the barriers and put them out

because there was a huge backlog

for ordering ANPR cameras across the country at a time.

It was the middle of COVID and it was really difficult.

But I want to thank people groups

like Wandsworth Living Streets at that time,

led by the late Robert Malteno,

who did a wonderful job in organising volunteers

for I think it was 20 schools across the borough.

My question is about compliance.

And I wonder if there are any statistics

that we might have about how effective ANPR cameras are.

What I remember being told is that often when

School Street was first established

and perhaps the ANPR camera went in,

you might find a high incidence of people

not noticing the cameras, missing the signs,

and getting the fine, but over time,

that that would decline.

And I just wonder, we must now have the stats available

to be able to do some charts on that

so that we could see what is the life cycle almost,

because perhaps, you know, like I say,

it starts high, comes down,

but then maybe it starts to creep up again,

because you get complacency,

which I think is what's been hinted at,

potentially at Beatrix Potter.

But do we have those stats,

or could we get them and pull them together and share them?

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor.

I think we've got some stats kind of included in the paper.

It's important to understand that obviously,

when we came to collect all this data,

we're talking about masses of information,

you know, five years of kind of PCN data

and warning notices and so on.

In general, yes, we definitely see a quite significant drop

when we introduce ANPR enforcement.

But we always have these drivers that are not local,

They're not really, they don't know the local roads.

Sometimes they miss the signs.

Sometimes they choose to drive through

despite being aware that a PCN will arrive.

We can provide more data,

but it's quite a time -consuming, obviously, task.

So, yeah, sorry.

Wondering if I could have a quick follow -up.

Thank you, that's good to know.

Could I also just ask, because you mentioned drivers who are perhaps not local who are

driving through etc.

My memory is one of the great bugbears was people driving using driving apps, and I'm

not going to name names but we all know them.

Have those apps now updated sufficiently that they know about school streets where they

are across the borough?

Because I remember once again in the early days when it was all happening, the apps were

directing traffic still down these streets,

has that stopped?

Yes, in general, yeah, we sometimes do have,

depending on apps being upgraded and so on,

data falls out of the system,

and then very quickly we get,

the people on the ground, the schools, the parents,

they will see a massive increase very quickly and then we'll get the emails and only then we can we can approach again the

companies who manage these apps and and

Request that these street closures will will be put on back on the system

Councillor Crichard then irons then belton

Okay, thank you both and thank you miss Robertson for coming along as well and listening to all our business about gullies

Right, a couple of thoughts on this is firstly, Mr. Younger, we've actually got more money

left in the budget than we've spent.

What's the time period to spend it?

I'm just trying to get a sense thinking that we started in 2020 and we spent £400 ,000

and we've still got another £500 ,000 and does this mean it will take us till 2030 to

get to spend the money and I wondering about what we can pick up there so

that's the first point is money spending I also had a question really about how

can we encourage more people to take it up now I mean Miss Robertson I think

you're almost giving yourself a job because you're I also wonder and what

counsellors can do, what other people can do, because I'm looking down the list of schools and there's some schools that I've seen that have rejected.

There's some where it's difficult, clearly, because of the placement.

Some of the primaries where actually, from what I know of their location, it could be pretty useful.

But how do we persuade them?

And because we do obviously have funding to do it.

And then there are a couple of other things.

What I would also think about the spend is what else can we spend it on?

Because we've moved a bit into secondaries, but

I'm also thinking about what else was available in terms of safe routes to school.

So in some cases, I'm thinking secondary schools, right?

Primary schools, most primary school children go to school with a parent.

Secondary school children don't.

And actually therefore have a longer, there's a wider area around the school

where they're by themselves and they need to think about roots.

And I'm just wondering if the funding can be used for that.

And the only other thing for your parents who worry about teenagers sitting on benches.

All children grow up and your angelic ten year,

eight -year -old well other than Peter Pan but your angelic eight -year -old

eventually turns into the lumbering 16 year old that lurks but to be fair it

wasn't our parents it was residents

evening counsellors David Tiddley the head of transport strategy I'll take the

question about the funding I think. Yeah so it wasn't the case of at the

beginning in 2020 we put a million pounds in the budget and we've got

five hundred thousand plus left it's very much a case of every year we look

at what we need to put in the budget for the next coming oncoming period and

there's five as you rightly say this five hundred and thirty five thousand

pounds there. That money will generally roll over at the end of the financial

year into the next financial year until such time we want to potentially

increase it further. As Mr. Younger says, we're looking now into

secondary schools and secondary schools tend to be bigger with bigger highway networks

around them and require more effort and will likely be more expensive in their delivery.

Also as schemes have been transitioning to cameras, cameras tend to cost quite a lot

the money as well. So if schemes transition to cameras, that's also where money goes.

And then to take your other point, where schools are clearly not suited for school streets

because they're on a main road, a bus route or whatever, it's nevertheless still the case

that there may be worthy safety improvements that can be undertaken near and around those

schools which isn't a school street and and those can be funded as well.

Can I just add one thing also about the budget. We've got, so as Councillor Larkin mentioned,

during the pandemic we, the council delivered many schemes very quickly. All these schemes

are now in place for four, five years and many of them require an upgrade. We currently

working on upgrading, a big upgrade of the scheme at Hotham and Our Lady of Victory in Putney,

that will require quite a big sum of money in terms of just changing, tweaking the road layout

and just we've got like five years of experience. We've got volunteers there, they're actually

manning barriers for five years and they've got a lot of experience and they know what's right for

their scheme.

So we try to listen and we try to kind of

obviously improve these schemes.

So yeah, we also, you know, I mentioned the other measures

that we started to implement in recent phases.

Every zebra crossing obviously will come at a cost.

So we, the last scheme that we launched

just before the summer, Bowling Book Academy,

Part of the measures that we're gonna implement

is relocating the zebra crossings that they use daily

to go to physical education on the common.

So again, these will come at a cost.

I think, as Mr. Tilly mentioned,

you know, now starting to work with secondary schools,

we're looking at different kind of set of challenges.

The first thing that Bolingbroke Academy told us is that they're really keen on the school

street because it will link to another scheme, already existing scheme, on Belleville Road,

which will create a low traffic route from basically Wandsworth Common from Common to

Common nearly.

So this is something that, you know, like, yeah, you know, having this budget in place

definitely can will allow us to look at things in more holistic way.

Councillor Owen.

Thank you.

I have a question about other interventions, but just briefly, I was involved with the

school streets from that summer of COVID because I lived at the time right beside Belleville

Primary School and my children attended that school and then went on to Bolingbroke Academy

and I represent the Northcott Ward.

But what was fascinating is because I lived right beside

the school, all of my neighbours, both sides of the road

and on Wakefield Road, running down to Northcott Road

did not want the school street, which is why it's taken

until, or took till 2024.

Whereas Honeywell, obviously we're a very tight community,

went from the get -go.

PTA were out there with the barriers.

But interestingly, Belvile now has the AMPR put in place,

and obviously it's part of the Bolingbroke programme,

but Honeywell's still with the signs, et cetera.

But I was just wondering, obviously there are schools,

and I know this because having owned a house

on Wakehurst Road which has three schools on it,

Dolphin School did not want to have anything on it.

But having said that, for Dolphin School,

we have managed to put in place various bike rails,

which has obviously helped them.

But I would surmise that perhaps one of the reasons

Dolphin School didn't want it

is because they are a private school,

and obviously their children are driven to school.

So therefore, far more than they would be in,

let's say, a state primary.

And as my children have been in the state system,

I realise that.

So I was quite interested by interventions.

Other interventions are schools that I also noticed.

They're on that list that don't currently want a school street,

might in the past have requested a zebra.

And I know that there are schools

that are in the school street programme who, for years,

this included Belleville, but Honeywell

as well, who somehow, at the same time,

was getting their school street also got a zebra.

So I was just wondering, in terms of interventions,

obviously there are other things that perhaps those schools

might want.

And it may not necessarily be what is being offered.

But also, thank you very much for your presentation.

I currently live on Loxley Road, which is probably

we have a lot of your families live on Loxley Road.

And we're always talking about your camera,

because lots of people who don't realise

what it is for on the street, WhatsApp,

think it's for sort of, I don't know,

but looking for people who are on their mobile phones

or something, but I will let them know.

Thank you.

Yes, some more.

With interventions, if you do look at other things

like zebras, I mean, you mentioned them,

but they may not be what a school wants.

I mean, we always try to be led by the school, you know?

Like, we've already delivered a new zebra crossing

outside of Heathmere in Roohampton.

And this was again the first thing that the school kind of told us.

We're going to instal a new one on 4 Park Road outside of Brentle How.

These things come up very early in the conversation with the schools.

And we're happy to listen, but we also asked the school to provide, just to show that the

community's behind these kind of interventions.

So schools usually kind of arrange a petition and then they submit a petition and only when we get the petition we start to work

on this

Councillor Belton

On page 30 there's reference to Battersea Park Ward, Chesterton Primary

That's I represent Battersea Park Ward. I don't know anything about that. I probably should do

But not for now, but if someone could contact me and let me know about it and whether there's anything I could do I'd be interested

Thanks, Tony any further questions or comments on this paper

No on that last point Oh cancer Christian

Sorry, I thought

I'd also quite like to ask also a bit more about the special needs schools particularly,

and I know it's not my ward anymore, is the Broadwater one.

And whether we're thinking about how we could improve traffic.

A lot of the kids will have to be driven, but

equally I remember when Broadwater was a functional primary when I was its ward counsellor.

We had a lot of trouble, for example, with engine idling and stuff like that.

So I'm quite interested about anything extra we can do for special needs school.

Just specifically on Broadwater, I know that our school travel coordinator, she's in touch

with the school and they still kind of coming, you know, just trying to understand what the

best kind of set up for the school on the road.

But if the school will be happy with some sort of a scheme

to kind of reduce traffic,

we're obviously happy to deliver.

Thanks very much, and thanks to you both,

and thanks to Amanda specifically for coming this evening.

And just on that point, last point about,

I guess ward counsellors and some schools I know last,

it was earlier this year, Mr. Young just sent around

like an audit personal, a tailored audit per award

to each set of counsellors with a summary

of what had happened in their ward,

what was going to be happening.

So I would encourage colleagues to either look back on that

or just ask specifically for a refresher

because it's often the board counsellors being the conduit

can actually help to move those things on.

I know, for example, in my ward, Finton House,

it was rejected but the head teacher now wants

to very attentively start to relook at what they can do.

Either a school street or other safety measures. So I think there are often other ways through that we can go

So that paper is for information only so we can move on to the final agenda item

5 Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee: Work Programme (Paper No. 25-305)

Which is agenda item number five with a short introduction from mr. Flowers and then I'll add as well

Thank You chair and good evening members

I'm mindful that you've all had a chance to read the report and and I think the main takeaway therefore is if I could refer you

to appendix one, which will be the last page in the agenda.

So as part of the new arrangements,

each committee is responsible for its own work programme.

And these are arranged through work programming sessions,

which are held with key officers and lead members.

So the chair, deputy chair, cabinet member,

and the opposition speaker.

The committee held a session.

I know, unfortunately, Councillor Hamilton

wasn't able to make that one at short notice.

So the council attending tentatively

scheduled the following work programme.

The intention is that this will be an evolving document, so after this meeting we will be

arranging a new work programming session.

And if I could just ask councillors where you have areas of interest, if you could relay

it to either the chair, opposition speaker or deputy chair, so that they can then be

discussed and timetabled in.

Obviously we are mindful that with this type of approach there will be a bit more deep

dive through each meeting compared to in the past

where you'd sometimes have a lot of

kind of smaller update reports.

So officers and then the CalSTRS will then work together

to look at when best to put it in

and how they can engage relevant speakers to take part.

Happy to take any questions,

but I'll pass over to the chair first.

Let's do questions for Mr. Flowers first,

if there are any, but I don't think there will be.

No, okay, cool.

So obviously you can see the programme.

I thought I'd just, one item that did come

from the discussion that Mr. Flowers referenced

was delivery bikes.

So I'll just give a very quick overview of that issue.

So obviously we were looking for issues

that we could look at that kind of had broad interest

from across the borough.

And I think very quickly delivery bikes and riders

do fit that bill.

Quickly going through.

obviously illegally modified e -bikes,

which are essentially motorbikes causing danger,

not just on the roads but also on pavements

and through commons.

I think a lot of us were emailed this morning about that

from friends of Wandsworth Common.

They also damaged the perception of active travel

and cycling because people collate or conflate

these illegal e -bikes with regular legal e -bikes.

It's also something that's come up a lot in licencing,

licencing objections because people don't want

delivery riders hanging around restaurants,

new restaurants, et cetera.

Anti -social behaviour is also something that comes up.

There's also, we've talked about pavement clutter

and they obviously can cause that problem,

particularly with high streets.

And I think we just have an opportunity

as a London council to do something quite progressive

and perhaps innovative on this.

And obviously we have a lot of multinational businesses

such as McDonald's and others who make huge amounts

of money from these services but don't actually provide any amenities towards

making them fit within our streets and roads. So with that in mind the November

will be a very broad overview paper that we can just look at and then perhaps

from that discussion we could pick an area to focus on for the February

meeting that we can we can do a bit of a deep dive and hopefully come up with

some ideas to improve the situation. Any thoughts questions on that? Yes Councillor

Dr. Cooper, then Chancellor Hamilton.

One of the things that we do at City Hall

is sometimes we do cross -cutting

in -depth investigations via more than one committee

at the same time, I mean not necessarily,

precisely the same time, but roughly the same time,

so that if there's an element that could be dealt with

more appropriately through the health committee,

it would go to the health committee.

And when you raised this issue before,

and I was thinking about how you would do this,

it's not really so much a transport issue,

but the health and welfare of the riders

is perhaps something that the health committee

could consider because you find that these

sort of congregations of them,

and there are no comfort break facilities,

she said, trying to think of a way of putting it delicately.

I mean, there's really nothing provided for them.

And then you end up with littering.

I mean, in some cases, actually,

around Tooting Broadway Station,

there's been fights have broken out

and lots of complaints about that,

because there's people who live in Fersden

who catch busses and who stand near

where the fights have broken out.

But looking at it from the point of view of the welfare

of the people who are riding around all day

with no opportunity to go to the loo,

not really anywhere to sit down

and actually have a proper break or arrest or anything,

nowhere to sit and have a proper lunch.

I mean, is there something here that perhaps we could ask

our colleagues on the health committee to consider?

Because I do actually think the health and well -being

of the risers, as well as looking at the sort of nuisance

that's caused by the way that they ride around all

over the place, essentially.

I just wonder whether it might be

more appropriate through health.

I mean, I know everyone's at very early doors here on this.

but that does seem to me to be a sort of cross -cutting

element of this.

If you're only looking at one half,

then we're kind of missing out on quite an important area

here for the people concerned.

Thank you.

Yeah, definitely happy to take that away.

Health is an interesting point.

I've seen and read evidence from riders

that part of the reason that they turn

to these cheap modified e -bikes is because to pay

for enough food to get the calories that you would need

to ride a 10 -hour shift to deliver quickly enough to to make the minimum wage is so difficult that

they are turning to these illegal motorbikes so it's certainly an issue. Councillor Hamilton.

Thank you very much, no, looking forward to that discussion. I think it's been a particular point

of tension at the end of residential roads. I used to live on Coverton Road in Tooting

and I certainly remember late in the evening you would see huge congregations of of drivers there,

sometimes 14, 15, that it caused a great deal of distress to local residents in terms of

the rubbish that was left behind, the late night noise and so on. So thank you for putting

that on the agenda. Also wanted to just touch on the conversation that we obviously had

before as well about thank you for considering adding Putney High Street to the future agenda.

I think it's one that's getting a lot of discussion at the moment so we look forward

to seeing the outcome of that paper. One for also the future programming session just to

to flag as well. I think we would appreciate receiving an update on the proposed revisions

of the local plan, which should be advancing at pace at the moment. I know that we spend

the overwhelming bulk of our time in this committee talking about transport issues,

but it remains obviously the overview place for strategic planning as well. So I think

it's important that we get an update there, but I will bring those formally to the next

programming session. And my apologies again for not being able to make the previous round.

Thank you, House. Yes, happy to put Putney High Street on the agenda for November. I

I don't know, Councillor Yates, if you wanted to just

briefly address that.

Yes, thank you.

Of course, we'll be very happy to have a full paper

on the Putney High Street junction changes

at the November committee.

We are very concerned about the congestion in Putney,

particularly on Lower Richmond Road and Putney Bridge Road.

We've been listening to residents on that.

I met yesterday with the Putney Action Group together with Fleur Anderson MP to hear from them,

because they have done a very large survey about people's views on Putney and

the high street in the surrounding area and concerns about the congestion was the top issue raised.

Obviously, we're very concerned that what was expected in terms of

what the junction changes would deliver,

you know, hasn't actually worked out in practise.

I mean, I think it has delivered in terms of

a better crossing for residents,

and obviously that was the intention,

it was why there were changes,

it was a dangerous crossing,

people wanted it to be easier to cross,

but it was certainly not very anticipated

that there would be this degree of congestion,

particularly on Lower Richmond Road and Putney Bridge Road.

So we've been working very closely with TFL,

and we do need them to make more changes

to the light synchronisation,

and particularly the green time for Lower Richmond Road.

So it's something that's taking up a huge amount of time

at the moment, rightly, because it's a problem,

it's an issue, and we have got consultants

working on a report to look at the previous design

and all the modelling work that was done,

because obviously it was a huge amount of modelling.

It took several years to get to agreement with TFL about what changes would be put in place.

And we need to look at what's happened, actually happened, and

how can we improve the situation and put it right.

So yeah, that's ongoing and of course very happy to discuss that in full with the committee.

I think November will be a good time because obviously in the meantime we'll be doing everything we can to

improve the situation, some changes have been made already,

but we will have the full report from the review available.

Then as this issue is of great concern to residents

in Putney at the moment, I don't know whether Mr. O 'Donnell

might be permitted a couple of minutes to say something.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Councillor.

Sir Nick O 'Dell, Director of Traffic and Engineering.

Just to say there's a lot of activity obviously happening

in relation to the matter.

The one thing I would say is that a lot of the work is live

in the sense of there are a lot of things in progress

in transition, so whilst obviously we'll happily bring

a paper to November, it has to in essence be written

in October, so I make no apology if there may be

late revisions, but we want that to be as up to date

as possible, so apologies in advance for that,

there will be late additions changes within that

that will outline a lot of the wider work that we're doing,

and obviously the key thing I would stress here

is that we can't solve all the problems.

A big part of this is with Transport for London.

We need their cooperation, we need their partnership.

A lot of the issues that we have

and things that we're trying to resolve

link, for example, to the traffic lights

which are under TFL's control.

So we will do what we can to ideally get them

to put that paper and even possibly come on the evening itself

but that's a key part of what we do

as well as obviously looking at a number of matters

to try and appease the understandable concerns there.

Thank you both.

Councillor Critchard.

Thank you.

I was just going to say thank you for Councillor Hamilton for reminding us that this also covers

strategic planning.

I just wondered if Mr Moore might be in a position to tell us when would be appropriate

for feedback on the updates to the local plan, is the first thing.

And secondly, Chair, maybe this is also an area to go and have a discussion with the

the cabinet member for strategic planning to see if there's anything that we should be thinking about

that's coming up on that side of the work of this committee.

Yeah, good evening members.

Paul Moore, I'm interim director of place or growth and place, I think now.

So, I think that's worthy of discussion with the cabinet member in the ongoing discussions about the work plan, Chairman.

Clearly, local plans, significant issue review of policy, particularly in terms of the housing policy.

Work going on there, subject to review by an inspector.

So I think when the time is right, when we have something of substance that's been

through that process, that would be the time to update members accordingly.

But we need to look at the hearing in public, the inspector's result,

their report and the outcome of that process and then take a view

on any appropriateness of reporting here.

So I would suggest put it into that work programme discussion.

Sure.

That's fine with me.

Councillor Cooper.

I'm just a bit confused by what the officer was saying.

So we would be considering this as a potential discussion item only after the examination in public by the planning inspector has completed,

or we would be able to consider something a bit more open -ended,

which is what I thought Councillor Hamilton was asking for,

and maybe reviewing...

I mean, I haven't seen all of the comments that were submitted about the plan.

You know, I don't know who else was submitting things

when it was open for the consultation as well as the Council.

And we would definitely need to have the cabinet member present at the meeting

when we were having that discussion,

because presumably they would be very familiar with all of the commentary that was submitted.

And alongside that, as I'm sure you're aware, although it probably doesn't impact on us directly

in terms of the thing that's been picked on a lot by the media,

which is the changes to the London Plan that will affect the Greenbelt,

there are a lot of other proposed changes to the London Plan that may or may not impact locally,

and I wonder whether that would be worthy of putting that together as a wider discussion point.

And we've had the launch of the London Growth Strategy,

and I think the leader went somewhere with the Deputy Mayor for Business

and discussed building 10 ,000 new houses or something.

I can't remember the precise figures, I apologise.

And that is also obviously part of the overall changes to the approach on strategic planning

and also jobs and growth in the borough.

So it seems to me that there is quite a lot on the strategic planning side as well as

the transport side for us to be considering at this committee, really worthy of some further

consideration.

Thank you.

Might I suggest that we take this conversation

to the planning meeting with everything noted

and we can keep it moving as a live discussion.

Councillor Locker.

Sorry, thank you.

A bit of feedback first.

I mean, I think I joined this committee in 2010

and I think I've sat in pretty much every seat

around the table.

I think, I want to thank the officers

and all of our speakers tonight, that's been really helpful.

But I think we could probably cope

with a slightly fuller agenda and a couple more items,

because this is the lightest agenda I've seen

in all of that time that I've been on this committee.

So I think we can cope with a little bit more.

I'm conscious that we do need to get this right

in terms of your list and plan here in Appendix 1,

because this is everything we're going to be discussing now

before the end of this administrative term

and the next local elections.

And there are some biggies still to deal with.

I think the local plan is one, whatever stage it's at.

I think our residents will expect us to have discussed it

and to be able to go back with them with where we're at.

I think another one is probably where we're at with the ones

with one -way system.

I did see some news, I think, in the summer.

that was a TFL, I think, statement,

I haven't seen yet anything from the council

or what the council's position is

and what it plans to do in the coming years.

And I do know that there's a lot of money

that was allocated or hypothecated to that scheme.

We should be having a debate about

are there other things that we can do in the area to help.

Another one that I think would be really useful

is to just do a sort of post -implementation review,

perhaps of all the major schemes that have been delivered.

So it could be just a summary paper talking about them.

Have they gone to plan?

Obviously we're going to do the in depth

on the Putney High Street one,

but there'll be others where hopefully it's good news

and there are positive lessons that we can learn

from the implementation of schemes.

So that's my comment.

We can cope with a bit more.

We like our homework.

And secondly, my suggestions for things

that I think need to be included in this list

before we go back to the voters.

Thank you.

I guess I would just reiterate that there was an opportunity for that input to come

and unfortunately it wasn't possible but there will be further opportunities so hopefully

collaboratively we can build out those agendas as you described before the election.

Councillor Yeates.

Yes, thank you.

I just wanted to pick up on your mention, Councillor Locker, of the one -way system.

So I just wanted to draw your attention in case you're not aware that we are running a public engagement exercise on that.

And we did do a council press release about that because it isn't possible for

TFL to proceed with the scheme that was consulted on in 2015,

16, and they have now conclusively concluded that.

So we're running a public engagement exercise.

There are three in -person drop -ins coming up.

It's to get public feedback on what people want to see

from the one -way system.

We are making a number of shorter term improvements

that TFL have agreed to.

Of course, they're all red routes.

It's a South Circular, the transport of London roads.

So TFL, for any changes to those roads,

they need to be agreed if not implemented by TFL.

But yes, and the funding that was allocated

for the previous scheme from the council,

it remains committed in the council's capital budget.

We very much want to see improvements to the gyratory,

albeit that the flow of the traffic will remain

as it is now, but we sincerely believe that

The one -way system can very much be improved

with better crossings, better cycle provision,

more street greening, and what we want to do

is hear from residents about what their priorities are

and see how we can work with TFL

to then deliver improvements.

So please, if you haven't been on the Common Place website,

if you have time, please do do that,

and please do input your views

and attend one of the drop -ins if you can.

All the information is on the website.

there's some frequently asked questions

which does explain why it was not possible

for TFL to proceed with the previous scheme

which was consulted on about 10 years ago now.

Cartha Locker then.

Sorry, thank you very much for that.

That is reassuring but could I just make a plea,

could we do more to promote that?

I'm usually on the ball and spot things

but I haven't seen anything about that

and one of my ward borders the one -way system

in Thamesfield, so I have a lot of residents in Wandsworth Riverside quarter.

And I think in some respects Council Comms has been pretty good of late.

I got all the flyers telling me about the seven rings policy that came through loud

and clear.

So it would be good if we promoted this to that same level of commitment, if we can please,

so that residents know about it.

Thanks, Chair.

I'm just a bit conscious that this is turning into a back and forth on hot topics across

the borough, and this is more for noting the work.

And there is still a formal procedure here where people can feed in, and so far nothing's

been rejected because nothing's been put forward.

So please fill it in.

An input.

Yeah.

But there's also a process.

Thank you.

Is the consultation you are talking about, is that the one about Wandsworth town?

Is it part of that?

Because that's going on right now.

Yes, okay, so that's where it is.

A bigger exercise effort to promote it.

We've done our best, but I'll ask our comms officers to please get more, you know, to

promote it again.

No, I did get that.

I'm just not sure if that's what we're talking about.

Thank you.

Sorry, just to add to that,

I just got onto something that Councillor Lococo mentioned,

which is just quite important from an off perspective.

I think part of the reason why the previous scheme failed

is because it was a transport scheme,

not a town centre scheme.

That's our view.

It should have gone a lot broader

in relation to recognising

wider development opportunities for connexions,

all the changes that are taking place there.

So our thinking has gone much broader

than what was there previously,

And to do that, we need to re -engage what we're doing at the moment.

And as Councillor Yacob said, we need to go back out and ask, well, what do you think,

what do you feel Wandsworth Town Centre should be?

And go much more than just the roads and the pavements.

It needs to talk about greening infrastructure connexions, growth, jobs, opportunity connexions,

all the other bits and pieces to it.

So this exercise has gone much broader, and we're looking for a much wider engagement

in terms of conversation topic, area, such that we can then use that feedback to rebuild

a new picture that will go much broader than the giatry scheme did previously.

So it's not a new giatry scheme, it's a new town centre scheme.

I'm testing the Chair's patience here, but I just want to let you know that public engagement

exercise, it's being done with TFL.

They will be at those public drop -ins.

And obviously that's absolutely key, because as Mr. O 'Donnell says, the town center's more

than just the road but the road is critical and the road the roads are DFL's

roads so you know we have to work really hard to make sure that we would be you

know working with them on this and of course this area is now part of the

London growth plan and the you know it forms part of the the ones with growth

corridor which is within the London growth plan which is absolutely

critical thank you looking to council here before a final and concise

contribution before we move? Well I'd just like to assure the officer that I

was on that committee at the time when it was actually Councillor Cook who was

the cabinet member for transport proposed the 27 million pound

contribution from the council matched by 27 million from TFL and I suggested that

being so constricted in refusing to ever increase it because we might want to

make it a more holistic approach was something that he roundly rejected and

And the Council itself has always stuck with that figure, which I think has also not been

helpful over the years.

But there were those of us who made those points about it being a wider scheme at the

time.

Thank you very much.

That concludes the business of the meeting.

We welcome your comments

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Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Thursday 18 September 2025, 7:30pm - Wandsworth Council Webcasting

Transport Overview and Scrutiny CommitteeThursday, 18th September 2025 at 7:30pm

Agenda

Slides

Transcript

Map

Resources

Twitter

Forums

Speakers

Feedback

Votes

1 Minutes of the Previous Meeting

2 Declarations of Interests

3 Electric Vehicle Charging (Paper No. 25-303)

4 School Streets Monitoring and Progress Update (Paper No. 25-304)

5 Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee: Work Programme (Paper No. 25-305)

Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Thursday, 18th September 2025 at 7:30pm