Passenger Transport Liaison Group - Wednesday 13 November 2024, 6:30pm - Wandsworth Council Webcasting

Passenger Transport Liaison Group
Wednesday, 13th November 2024 at 6:30pm 

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I can confirm the webcast is live.
Great and good evening everyone and welcome to this meeting of the Passenger Transport
Liaison Group.
My name is Councillor Fraser and I will be chairing the meeting this evening.
Apologies this evening have been received from Councillor Hamilton, Tim Keane from South
we're just admitting someone else in. Good evening, we're just
getting started for the meeting. So we've just taken apologies.
So welcome. So members of the group, I think that there's just
one I'm going to come to. So Councillor Yates, if you'd like
to introduce yourself as the other Councillor on the call
this evening.
Yes, good evening, everybody. I'm Jenny Yates. I'm the cabinet
member for Transport and Wandsworth.
Thank you very much. I'm just going to go around my screen in order that it appears
on Teams. So if you can just, because we've got a few new faces and just so everyone is
familiar with themselves. So this is completely random but in order on my screen. So Michael.
Michael Flowers, Democratic Service Officer and Clerk for the meeting.
Thank you. David Titney.
Yeah. Hi everybody. David Titney. I'm the Head of Transport Strategy for Wandsworth
Council.
Hi, good evening. I'm Sidoni Forest -Brown, Senior Transport Planner for
Wandsworth Council.
James.
Hi, I'm James Picard. I'm working for the local communities and partnerships
team at CFL and lead contact for Wandsworth Council.
Thank you. David Wilby.
Hi, I'm the Regional Development Manager for Southwestern Railway in the suburban
part of our operation. Thank you. Miguel? Hello, my name is Miguel Diaz,
Senior Performance Manager for London. Thank you. Victoria? Hi everyone, I'm Victoria
Greenwood, Senior Sponsor at Network Rail for the Wessex route. Thank you Victoria. Jack?
Yeah, hi everyone, I'm Jack Warren, I'm the Senior Public Affairs Manager for the Wessex
route at Network Rail. Alan, he's my final one on my screen. Hi everyone, Alan Lopez,
I'm a scheme project manager currently working on the ones at the town station access for
all and second entrance scheme.
Lovely and you're all very welcome this evening and thank you because we had a few new faces
this evening so thank you very much for that.
So agenda item one are the minutes of the group held and the last meeting held on the
26th of September.
Can I take those meeting minutes as agreed?
Great, thank you.
Next item we have on the agenda is declarations of interest.
Are there any declarations of either pecuniary or the registrable or non -registrable interest this evening?
Thank you very much.
So yeah, the next item, item three, is passenger transport public safety.
So the crime figures were circulated to the group electronically.
Oh, Michael.
Apologies, I should say that the crime figures, because of Officer Livan getting them in time, weren't ready for this meeting.
I didn't think so. I was going to say I didn't think I'd seen them.
We've spoken to the data analytics team and I think they're going to long term, the resources they can provide to assist with providing them regularly.
But I think the only other thing just to update is, as mentioned at the last meeting, I was
asked to look into regular meetings for the public safety discussion.
So what is proposed if the group's happy would be that from the next municipal year, every
other meeting would feature one of these meetings.
And one would be held earlier and it would be open to all councillors to attend, but
it wouldn't be obviously webcast or a formal public meeting.
and then on dates where that meeting was held, the group meeting would start at
seven o 'clock with the meetings where there's not one held remaining at the
6 .30 time and obviously they'd be scheduled in in advance and made very
clear which were which, but obviously that's for the group to decide if
they're happy with that or if they want any other arrangements considered.
Thanks Michael and just just for context and I guess especially for mainly for council
So I think we discussed kind of how we could readily schedule in those crime meetings,
well, let's call them crime meetings for kind of abbreviations sake.
But it was thought, do we create an extra meeting, which obviously means another evening
on top of everyone else's time and scheduling them into the calendar and kind of one suggestion
came from me.
And I'm happy to be challenged if people don't think it's the right decision, but it's to
have every other meeting, but to put it before a meeting of this kind so that other councillors
can join but it would mean sort of it would mean everyone coming together for
one evening as opposed to trying to create two meetings but it would create
a bit of time difference in schedules so it was just one way to try and keep the
schedule a bit more simple a bit but if people don't feel that's the right thing
I'm I'm not wedded to it but it was just one suggestion I took Michael raised with
me Jenny got C8. Yeah thanks Claire and Michael I mean that sounds fine to me
I presume both meetings would be online. Is that right?
Yes, yes, they'd all be online. It would be similar. I'm not sure if you attended the last one, I think it was nearly a year ago. But it'd be similar to that. So trying to get kind of a group of the police representatives and giving giving an opportunity and sometimes submitting questions in advance just to allow very kind of narrowed focus questions if people have got specific stations or specific avenues of transport, and it might help with
police attendance if they know there's two meetings a year where they definitely need
to be present?
Yeah, no, it all sounds very sensible to me, thank you.
Yeah, and then at the end of that meeting we would then say, well, thank you for your
time and kind of close on stuff. And yeah, and I think we can probably, because, you
know, it's useful to have the crime figures, but equally if it's from a resourcing perspective,
we can look at what it is that we need for this meeting versus, and it'd probably be
useful to understand kind of what it needs from then to produce a report and whether
do we need everything that goes into that? Is it a way that it's perhaps easier from
their side and happy to have that discussion with them to produce something that's maybe
suitable for this meeting or a set of meetings? It doesn't have to be every meeting or whether
it's just for those two crime meetings. Basically something that we can use to have an informative
discussion and not kind of a okay well you did the crime figures and that they we looked at them
if they feel that they're kind of under resourced so happy to have that chat Michael as and when
needed. Okay well thank you very much for that. So the next item on the agenda is agenda item four
trains and overground. So next is looking at network rail is the access for all second
entrance to Wandsworth Town Station. So am I passing over to you, Alan, for that? Or is it worth an officer
kind of giving, or Victoria, or is it worth obviously giving an introduction before we get, or not
infrastructure, but maybe summarising where we're at on things?
Sure, yeah. Shall I go for it all? Yep. So, yeah, I mean, I guess kind of more of a high level update
today because we are kind of on the cusp of having a more detailed plan so I'll let you know about
that. So Wandsworth Town Station, we're looking at an access for all project which is going to
make the station accessible with three new lifts and we're also taking the opportunity to try and
deliver this project alongside the second entrance project. So we'll be delivering those at the same
time to gain efficiencies in delivery. So where are we at the moment? So we've finished our
what we call detailed design. So we know what the design looks like for both parts of the project.
We're now working on developing a final pricing program for delivery. We had hoped to have this
done a bit sooner but there are a few complexities with this project which have been a little bit
challenging than we expected. So for instance, the construction
methodology for this site, because it's quite a constrained site, we've had to
be quite creative in how we're going to deliver it. So we have a few options
on the table and we are working through these at the moment and
consulting with South Western Railway to make sure that the option that
we pick is the best both for passengers and the rail industry and so it's not to
disrupt people too much. We're also building alongside the housing
development. So we need to make sure that our design and their
design, you know, interfaces correctly. And there are a huge
amount of utility diversions that we need to do to deliver the
scheme. So we're engaging with all the utility companies to
make sure that we're, you know, what we're proposing to do will
be okay. And then, I guess the last thing really is
constructing anything in an operational rail environment has
its has its own challenges, as you can imagine. So we're kind
of working through all of these to build up our plans for the
and programme. So we have a meeting tomorrow with our colleagues at South Western Railway
and Network Rail operations colleagues to work through the construction methodologies
that I mentioned and to kind of agree what we think our preferred option is. And from
that, we'll kind of unlock a lot of the things that we need to know to then be able to develop
of our item programme. So the aim is that after tomorrow's meeting we'll have a better
view on next steps. And I want to have that view this side of Christmas to then be able
to help us develop a part of our pricing programme by February to March next year is kind of
when we're aiming for. So I guess, yeah, as soon as we have that meeting tomorrow, I will
back and either update you here or update via Sedoni to let everyone know the next steps. But
yeah that's kind of the update really is that we are working on it. It's taken a little bit longer
than we'd hoped but we're making progress and we will keep you updated as we go along.
Great thank you very much Victoria and I'm just going to open it up for any questions if that's
right through you. Okay. Do we have, Councilor Yates, come to you first.
Yeah, thanks very much Victoria, I'm very pleased to hear you're making progress. Obviously we're
really, really keen for these works to go ahead. I just didn't quite understand, so after tomorrow
you mentioned you'd know next steps and then what was it that would happen in February, March?
So we will, so we'll, yeah, in February, so after tomorrow, we'll have a better idea of
how we're going to build it, which will help us to decide essentially how much it's going
to cost and how long it's going to take to build.
So those are the two, the price of the programme and the two things that we'll have in February,
March time.
And we'll then be able to say to all of our funders, look, this is how much the project's
going to cost.
This is when you can expect it to be done.
and then the decision on delivery will happen from there.
So our pricing programme are the two critical things we need to get going for delivery.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. David, I'll pass to you.
Yeah, it was only a quick point, I think, that my experience of these is it's usually possible to keep the stations open during works.
I'm just wondering what thought you may have already given to how many possessions you
might need or are there any plans to close the station?
Yes, so the options, our construction options do have varying impacts on the railway and
whether we'd need to have closures and for what length of time and things like that.
So there are a range of options from having to close for a longer period of time or different types of disruptions.
So we'll definitely need to consult that with SWR and the council and kind of more widely.
So, yeah, I guess the answer to that is we don't know exactly yet, but we're anticipating there will be some level of disruption.
Just to add to that as well, we have identified all of the required possessions that we need to carry out the work.
So it's just the case, as Victoria mentioned, of working with our colleagues
at Southwest Railway tomorrow to better understand those levels of disruption
and work accordingly to create our plan and our construction methodology.
Thank you.
So I guess I hear from that, I guess it's not set in stone as to kind of that
level of disruption just yet, but you hope to understand more from the meeting tomorrow.
Yes.
Yeah definitely and if there is any disruption we'll of course do comms beforehand and put
things in place to kind of minimize the disruption as much as possible.
Great thank you very much. Just looking around are there any other questions from anyone?
No okay well thank you very much for that Victoria. The next time we're going for another
second entrance this time we're going to the Queenstown Road second entrance this time on
agenda. Yeah, hi there, Councillor Fraser. I'll take that one on. Thank you. I know this has been
an ongoing project and just for the context for everyone, so that's to build a further entrance
from Patrum Terrace into the station and was a previous section 106 obligation from the developers
when they were building in the area. So it had been the intention of the contractor to start
this month but I did have a discussion with our sort of asset protection team that have been
managing this project with the contractors and it does sadly seem there's been a bit of delay to
and a change in their program. So we are continuing to follow up with the contract
assigned to the project to kind of get the final sign off and a final program agreed.
The project in itself would take around six to seven months to complete. So whilst I'm hopeful
that the project will start soon, I don't think we're too far away. I appreciate I've been on this
call before and I know I've had a conversation with David and Sidonie and I've said the same
before. So it would just be a case of kind of keeping updated. But I'm hoping to have a firm
program from them soon so they can get started because I do appreciate how long this project
has been going on or been in the pipeline in any case.
Thank you very much Jack. Any questions or follow -ups to that? No? Okay thank you and
we'll note that Jack so thank you very much.
Thank you guys for the pleasure.
Next one we have Battersea Park station on the agenda. The improvement there.
I'm happy to give the update if everyone agrees on that. I've been working on this quite closely.
So it's been a while since we've had an update on this. I think everybody knows we've been working with Network Rail for a while to develop an improvement scheme for Battersea Park Station.
And it's looking at supporting long term growth in the area and improving the accessibility of the station.
We do have a preferred design that's been chosen that would create a new accessible entrance to the north of Prince of Wales Drive.
The existing entrance on Battersea Park Road would remain open and still in use.
However, the main entrance would be the new entrance to the north of Prince of Wales Drive.
And the improvement scheme wouldn't extend to making any improvements to the existing entrance.
That would just remain as it is.
The cost of the preferred option has been estimated to be 35 million 640 thousand.
That's quite a lot and that includes a 40 % contingency.
The council has ring fenced around 17 million from development contributions.
There was a further roughly 3 to 4 million secured under the Access for All program.
However, we learned recently that the station isn't included in the FAA program anymore,
so that funding isn't available.
In the future, there is an option to bid for further funding through Network Rail's, it's
called the Rail Network Enhancement Program, R -NEP, and if there was a business case to
support the proposal, we could look at that as an option to contribute towards a scheme.
So Network Rail and GTR believe that they have an option for reducing the cost of the
scheme to make it more affordable and to align with the existing funding that we already
have.
So in order to allow them to investigate this further, we have an agreement that's been
drafted which would instruct them to review the scheme and identify where savings can
be made and to undertake any additional surveys which would help inform that
decision. So we've discussed how they might reduce the cost of the scheme whilst
still delivering everything in the client requirement document and
they, NEMO Braille and GTR can look to review the current design which includes
additional features such as a cycle hub and staff facilities and they
some of these could be removed from the final design and that would help to reduce the cost,
the overall cost. So the next phase of work if we once we sign the agreement would take
seven months and is will cost just under 500 000 pounds. Network Rail are planning to start,
we're hoping start this Friday, but we do need to sign the agreement first which we have at the
and once we get to the end of this current phase, there's no
obligation to continue if we conclude that there's no longer a
priority for this scheme for the funding, but completing the next phase will help
to confirm the overall cost and if it can be brought down in line with our
budget. So it's quite an important step but doesn't tie us to any kind of
future work if that's not a priority anymore and that's pretty much where we are. So we have the
agreement and it's ready to be signed if the council agrees to do so. That's yep. Okay thanks
Tony. I did have a couple of questions I'm gonna look around first see if anyone else want to come in.
And did you want to come in or you know, I guess on, um, was kind of people decided
they want to ask any questions.
We just based on what you just said there, I guess.
I mean, the 35 million is a lot.
I mean, in terms of bringing down the costs, do you think that can be brought down in line
that this is still something that we can deliver a good kind of improvement but in line with
budgets because I guess there's a lot of work going into it obviously but if we don't think
it can be financed then I guess it's important that it gets done but unless it's something
that's feasible to be done I guess what I'm asking is do we think it's feasible?
Yeah, so yeah, this is a conversation we had with GTI and Network Rail a while ago and
they, GTI believe that they can bring it down to align with the funding that we have, which
is how we sort of got to this point of agreeing to go to the next step.
They have previous schemes that they've delivered on the network, significantly cheaper than
Network Rail had originally quoted.
So I think one station was Denmark Hill that GTI improved and they did it for quite a lot
less than Network Rail could do. So they've got sort of previous examples of how they
can do that. So they're fairly confident that they could. Yeah.
Thank you very much. David. Yeah, I was just thinking that even if the
cost can't come right down to the current funding envelope, if it can come down a considerable
way it would make discussions about potentially finding the additional funding probably easier.
I think as well that when the Department for Transport announced the removal of it from
the current AFA program because of the uncertainty over it, that wasn't received incredibly popular.
that it isn't an accessible station.
So it's really two problems really.
It's a very expensive scheme,
but it's also an extremely difficult to use station.
It's getting very busy and sort of squaring that circle
is a challenge.
Yeah, thank you, David.
I mean, yeah, it's not very nice.
I mean, even if you're kind of the most able -bodied,
it's just not a nice station to use that alone if you've got any form of difficulty or need
any kind of accessibility requirements. Jenny. Yeah thanks very much for the update,
Sidonie, and obviously we are very keen that you know the improvements would go ahead. I'm just
wondering what Network Rail think are the chances that it will be possible to get funding for the
scheme from the fund that you mentioned? The Network Rail Fund?
From the RNEP. Yeah, I mean, we were advised that it was a good option and it would be
the most sort of feasible route for this station to get funding. But I mean, I guess unless
you have any update, Jack, I don't think anything is guaranteed or there's, you know, we haven't
been told there's X amount available. We've just been told this is the this would be the
best route to take.
Yeah, I think what we kind of, I mean, in terms of how network rail is funded, particularly
for enhancement is that we rely purely on the approval from the DFT. So the majority
of our principal funding is for the renewal and maintenance. And I think over the next
couple of months, I think the railway industry more broadly is kind of looking at the government
to see what they're going to be prepared to fund through the RNET scheme and then future
access for all schemes. So we're kind of not necessarily waiting, but kind of waiting for
some sort of confirmation from the government in itself about how we're going to proceed
with these schemes, whether it's the R -NEP and future RFA's.
Thank you. I think Jenny, that was your hand from before or is
that a new hand? No.
And yeah, actually, it's a new hand because you mentioned as
well that in order to apply for this R -NEP funding, there would
have to be the development of a business case. So with this next
phase that would take seven months and cost £500 ,000 would that lead to the development
of the business case?
That's a good question I need to double check that I'm not sure if it does or if it's an
outline oh I would double check that and confirm.
Thank you.
Any other questions on that one? No? Okay. So next item on our trains and overground
is the Waterloo station redevelopment update.
Yeah, thank you, Councillor Fraser and David do chip in if I go to your arm and try to
sell the long term vision for what we have from London Waterloo, which I know many of
you use as your main entry point into sort of central London. So you know, as the council
be where it's kind of a really interesting scheme where we've partnered with Land of Council,
Southwestern Railway and a whole host of other local partners, including local business
improvement districts and employers group, where the intention is to have a long term plan for the
future development of London Waterloo and the surrounding Waterloo and South Bank area. So,
since our initial announcement in March of this, we've been kind of working on what that kind of
vision looks like a little bit more and kind of breaking down long term aspirations and what
short -term investments we can do to really start to improve the public realm. I think many will
know if you get on Victory Arch and look to your right up Cab Road, it can definitely do with a
bit of sprucing for the passenger experience, but also for the people that live locally in the area.
So, in kind of where we are, we're kind of continuing our engagement with various stakeholders
and sort of some of the immediate stuff, for example, is that Lambeth Borough Council are
looking to put some artwork up in and around the arches to the right of Victory Arch,
be a nice improvement. But more broadly, we continue to kind of work on looking to bring
into place these 40 kind of new enhanced walking and cycling routes around there,
improve gateways to the station, furthering the work on redesigning the northern kind of
concourse and the entrance through that way, as well as the kind of the southern entrance.
And it's also just been kind of feeding on the work of improving the general public space of
that area, green infrastructure, planting lots of trees in the area, and then kind of looking at the
feasibility of kind of enhancing the bus and taxi interchange, as well as the fundamental
end goal is kind of on top of all those things is to create a new sort of workspace with
retail and leisure offer. So hopefully increasing the employment opportunities in the local
area as well. So the framework is still kind of very much in place and being developed
and to kind of see what London Waterloo's full potential is. And Lambeth Council, probably
similar to Wandsworth, are constantly looking at ways that they can bring kind of net -zero
neighborhoods into the area and they're very much looking to use Waterloo as the kind of the linchpin
of that. So yeah, I think over the next couple of months, what we will be able to share with you is
kind of another further sort of program of short term investments as these are being finalized.
I'm happy to kind of keep you updated through this forum and any others as they kind of come
forward. So, but David, did I summarise it well? Do you have anything to add?
Yeah, no, no, it's spot on Jack. It's, yeah, it's a long, it's a long term ambition to
make the station reach its full potential, I think. And Waterloo is the busiest station
on on the network, and always has been certainly got the most platforms and it's in the right
part of London. And the ambition is to do something like cross between that was done
at London Bridge, what's going on at Victoria and what's happened, the regeneration around
Kings Cross and St Pancras and certainly Waterloo has the potential to do all of that. However,
it's a mega, mega project that requires a lot of thinking about a lot of planning and
certainly a hell of a lot of investment. And it was just by the intention to give councillors
an update really on the thinking about the railway and the railway progressing for the future.
Certainly may have seen some of those things if you google them and they'll see some artwork and
undercroft at Waterloo being explored and all of those sorts of interesting things. It was just to
follow up on Michael's request for a bit more information at these meetings because sometimes
they can be a bit thin with just us talking about the individual parts of the rail network or
dealing with the odd sign here and there and to bring a bit more joy more than anything else. So
it's still my intention to try and find a presentation and bring it to you at some point
later and later along in maybe an XPTLG or one after that.
Great, thanks both. And yeah, always kind of as much as it's a setting need Andrew wanting to
of make sure that we're kind of highlighting and posing any problems that might have good,
it's always good to focus on nice and good things as well that are happening. So equally I'm sure
if you've got stuff that you want to highlight that you're doing in one so that's positive,
it's always nice to have some positives as well as kind of negatives in as much as we try and keep
that balance. So we'd love to hear if there are plans or kind of things that you'd like to present
to these meetings, the benefit of doing it on Teams is it is quite accessible if it's
a PowerPoint or things like that.
So, but yeah, by all means, if there's something that you want to bring to these meetings,
then do let us know because I think I'd certainly welcome that.
So thank you.
On the Waterloo, has anyone got any, David, you got your hands up first?
There's only one quick question for me, which is whether or not it includes Waterloo East,
which is often quite sort of overlooked sort of correlation really and the interchange isn't perfect and I just wonder if it's included.
Do you want to go? Because I know the answer to this.
Well then go on David.
Well, it does, David. Yes. And so I was trying while Jack was talking, I was trying to see
if I could find some of the presentation stuff that has been circulated and I can't put my
finger on it. But certainly the bridge, there is a redundant bridge out of the cab rank
buck taxi bus side of Waterloo that goes across the main road and actually ends up in Waterloo
East. Previously, in years and years gone by, trains went through what is now the platform of
Waterloo, across the bridge and out through Waterloo East. And so there was a bridge there
that already exists. And the plan is to, was or includes to try and open that up and to much
improve the access from Waterloo to Waterloo East and make it a bit more of a pleasant place to be,
rather than up and over,
because it takes some real effort to get there at the moment.
So yeah, it's all in the mix, David.
Thank you both, David.
Any other questions or queries on that?
I guess I just had one just thinking about
when I used to get the Eurus and Waterloo,
I'm trying to think,
is there a bit where the Eurus star used to go from
that is currently kind of unused.
So would that come back into use?
So yeah, I mean, so under platforms 20 to 24,
which is where the Eurostar is, you have the sidings,
which is really owned by London Continental Railways
to make the ownership of that area any more difficult.
And actually there's been a lot of work going on
the last couple of years to actually bring that sidings
into good use.
So you've got the, I think you've got the likes
of the biggest brew dog in London there now.
Quite a long -
Is that one that's got the slide now?
One that's got the slide, yeah.
Yeah, I've heard about that. Yeah, there's the likes of kind of Blacksheet Coffee,
Weathersmith, W. Smith and Weatherspoons now in there. So that is an ongoing piece. And I know
LCR are doing quite a lot to really kind of regenerate that part of what was the old
Eurostar terminal to kind of make it as a sort of a destination, not only for waiting for a train,
but coming off it all, but just for locals to kind of pop in and go. So I would done,
it's three floors. There's quite a bit going on there. So I highly recommend it if you have a
Charles Castle Presum.
Will do, let's check out the slides.
Great, just checking, because I jumped in there, were there anybody else wanting to meet,
Ruth, anything on Waterloo?
Michael?
I think on just a separate note, as someone who frequently uses it, just to pass on thanks to the people who managed,
obviously the new men's toilets are very, I think they are very well maintained,
I think it's something that's probably appreciated by a lot of users given the high traffic. So I think just from my perspective
I'm sure many people just to thanks the people who've led on what's been a very positive investment improvement to it
Yeah, it's always good to celebrate positives at these meetings and not when there are problems in delays
So yeah, and so yeah
between people on this call if there's an update or a presentation that
because you do email us and Michael and we'll get that scheduled in and we can always you know do
different we have a set standard of the agenda but we can always move it around change things if
it would be a more substantive item so thank you very much. Okay we're going to move on now to TFL
So there's one item on there which is the step free access on underground stations.
Hi everybody, this one's for me.
So obviously asked to come back on this after the meeting in September.
So I think this was just before, just after we announced we'll be looking at four feasibility
studies on providing step -free access at both Collierswood and Tutankham Broadway
Northern Line stations. Feasibility studies come after initial assessment
on stations on the southern end of the Northern Line. So as part of that we'll
examine the benefits, costs, funding opportunities and the impacts on
customers. The southern end of the Northern Line is the longest stretch of tube network that
not have any step free stations, which is a terminus station at more than being step
free from street to train. So we're working with the Mayor's goal to make 50 % of tube
stations step free by 2030. Progress obviously would depend on the deliverability of the
future funding and our future funding position with schemes prioritised, whether it's for
policy funding available. It is likely we will only be able to progress one of the stations
there, Collieswood or Tooting Broadway. Which one we do choose will be largely technical,
for example, costs, engineering complexity and possible need for land acquisition, but
also possibly be influenced by level of stakeholder support and the size of any potential funding
contributions from developers and or local authorities so that feasibility work is still continuing. We should have more details on this early in the new year. So hopefully by the time our next meeting comes around there should be a bit more details.
Right, thank you very much James. Catherine Yates.
Yes, thanks very much James and obviously we'll hope that the technical feasibility
favours to shooting Broadway.
And I just wondered, you mentioned the mayor's goal is to make 50 % of the underground stations
step free.
That was the underground stations right and what proportion of them are step free at the
moment?
Thank you.
That is a good question.
I don't have that data to hand, unfortunately cancer, but I can take that one away and give
an update. I'm not sure what it is, I don't know how close we are to that at this moment in time.
I think you know there are a number of stations that were included in this feed, this
next chance of stations that we're looking at. So I think there were about 10 or so on that list.
How many of those we actually get through to having set free access, that remains to be
but I'll certainly come back to you with a confirmation on that percentage at the moment.
Okay, great. Thanks. It was just for my interest, but it would be interesting to know.
Thank you. And I actually had a question. When you talk about stakeholder support, are you saying it would it be a measure of, so could it be, I'm just trying to think here,
Could it be an outcome that both stations are come back as feasibly possible?
And then are you saying it would kind of then come down to kind of who makes the best case for it,
ones like Orthon Merton or kind of what are those then deciding?
In fact, when you talk about kind of stakeholder support, I'm sure both boroughs would be supportive of it.
But I guess it's kind of what that would look like.
Surely, I mean, I, you know, I'm not on the decision panel, obviously.
No, no, I'm not saying that I'm just trying to think about kind of what those deciding factors might look like if say they both come out and say, yeah, you could do both of these if you really wanted to.
Sure, I mean as much you know stakeholder support from people like yourself and the
borough overall would obviously go down well and you know be a key you know factor in a
decision making process so by all means you know when we further engage with you on this
it'd be useful to have you know further correspondence from the likes of yourselves to support those
but you're the bids if you like. So yeah, happy to take that further.
Right. Thank you very much. David.
Yes, Councillor, I think that the usage of Tooting Broadway, which is very high, plus
it's the fact it's a town centre and proximity to the hospital would very much work in its
against that of course. Against that of course you've got then the comparison of costs and the
the affordability and deliverability and potential disruption of a quite a significant amount of
construction in the area so I'm sure TfL will take all those into account presumably. Yeah okay
or thank you both. Any more questions on step three?
Whilst they're hydrogen, I think we usually kind of do, you know, race. I think in previous meetings
I'm not going to kind of raise a point but we have talked about kind of issues at Ballam Station
to do with flooding. I think that I'm not asking for a response on that now but I do think I think
there was a written, you kind of had said you would get back to us on that but I guess it's
of looking at a different part of the borough because I know that Fleur Anderson over in Putney
has been raising, there were some issues with the district line to do with some some delays there
and I've noticed that that's kind of we have a tendency in these meetings a little bit to kind
of talk about the northern line but actually just kind of cognizant we've got the district line over
in Putney as well and and of that has that if there had been a dialogue with with Fleur's team
regarding about the disruption on the district line. Yeah, yes. So I know that my equivalent
over at our government relations team has been regularly liaising with with Fleur's
office on the disruption on the district line. Yes. So you know, hopefully we should be seeing
some improvements there soon. But no, there has been some significant disruption. And
we have been obviously speaking with the MP about that. So yeah.
It's also part network rail, that part of the district line is managed by both TfL and
network rail. So network rail managed part of the track and then seedlings run by sort
of TfL. So it's quite complicated piece of infrastructure. And actually we're planning
to, Fleur has actually asked for a meeting in the next couple of weeks to talk about
performance. So, I'm happy to kind of keep you all updated as well if anything comes
out of that. But in essence, there was a specific, I know a couple of weeks ago, it was a specific
track circuit failure that took far longer than it. Yeah, it took far too long to really
fix. But the root cause of that has been sorted now. And then, yeah, more broadly, the district
line where it ends on sort of the east side interacts with a lot of freight. So, when
there's one issue and one part of the network, it really compounds other areas on the district
line just by the nature of it intersecting with so many different railways, types of railways.
So, but yeah, it's definitely, you know, it's definitely an off focus from a network rail
standpoint as well to your files. Thanks Jack. And thanks both. I just thought I'd raise,
because we have, you know, we tend to talk a lot about buses in Putney, but also just thought I'd
raise that. So no, thank you. And it's great to hear that that engagement is happening and
a solution is in the works. I'm looking at just Kat and Yitz, did you have any other TFL related
points on the over -run or tour? Well not on the underground or the stations but
obviously quite a few on the buses. Yeah no that's fine I just wanted to make sure.
James has had a slightly easier ride than usual so just wanted to make sure before we
move on to buses. So thank you very much James and yeah if you can email Michael kind of
just before we've got a bit of time before the next meeting just if there's any we can
just conscious at Ballum we are kind of heading into those winter months where you do see
a bit more of that flooding so if there's anything that can be done too but yeah I'd
say not in this meeting now but just an answer by the time of the next meeting would be good.
Sure, yeah, I did. I did email Councillor Hamilton as my memory was obviously a bit off there. I
thought he was the one that raised it. But I will...
I knew he was, yeah, I think, but I tagged teams on it, yeah.
I did. I was just trying to establish it because I did ask the team about that. And they did send
me some pictures of what they believe the issue was down on the platform level. But you seem to
sort of say it was in the station gate line. It's in the concourse bit, yeah.
Yes, they're aware of that would be useful. I mean, I remember one morning to do it. Thank you. Yeah. And obviously, you know, be happy to meet you on site to sort of take you through the area manager if that'd be of interest.
What I'll do is I'll send a photo so you know where it is but it's just by the gates.
Obviously there's stuff on the platform as well but by all means.
But yeah I'll take a picture and then we can go from there James if you want to meet.
Thank you.
Yeah I think it's a bit that intersects both of our wards but then also I think council Hamilton had stuff up at Clapham South but I think we're not going to get into that one today.
Okay, thank you. So next up we are on buses. So next we have the extension of route 315
to Springfield.
Yep, so scheme is progressing well. Lease agreement work that spoke about last time
has been completed and works on the junction around Lamburnie Road was completed last week.
So now we need to undertake a bus route test, which is due to be completed by the end of
this month.
Understand there's some minor additional curb works that the council needs to carry out
ahead of that.
But the new target introduction date is for February of next year.
So fingers crossed all being well at the route test.
we should be have everything for the G1 to be extended in February next year.
Thank you. Cat C8.
Yeah, thanks very much, James. And obviously, it's good the the entry treatment works on
Glamburnie Road have been completed. Rosenna Ein Khan, the MP was in touch with me
about this and I went down there with Nicole Donald to have a look.
She's very concerned about, obviously she supports the extension of the bus route and appreciates that it's necessary given the development at Springfield.
But she is worried about kind of congestion in the area because I think there's already quite a lot of that.
And she was wondering where the bus stops are going to go.
And we did agree with her that we would arrange a walkabout in the area Nick was going to be following up on that. But anyway, I don't know.
Perhaps you wouldn't have anything to add to that at this stage. But yeah, be good if you can let us know. And I'm sure you'll be letting me said only know anyway about the route test and you know how they work out.
And also is it just the G1 that's going on that new route?
Is that right?
Thank you.
That's my understanding that it is just the G1.
In terms of locations, I think we did, I can confirm that following the meeting, but I
think we did cover that off before.
But yeah, I don't have that detailed to hand right now, but I can confirm that following
the meeting for you.
um yeah i'll follow up with that one for council
so don't you yeah well just to say that we
i can share the plan for where the two bus stops are going because we
uh we have the latest plan um i attended the site visit this week
and um as james said we've just got to raise the curb heights at the bus stops
um by about 50 mil so we're arranging that at the moment
But it's extended 315 into Springfield. That's the bus route.
Apologies you hadn't had that as well.
Yeah, so Tony, if you could share that, that would be really helpful.
Yeah, thanks.
Sure. Yeah, so we held a consultation on those two stops quite a few months ago.
we've got the traffic orders ready to go on those so hopefully we'll be getting those in shortly
but yeah I'll share the plan. Yeah and I think I remember yeah we had because we had that as
in my area because of the extension going but I think and and Ksena's team were kind of
they were consulted as part of that as well so yeah I think she just needs to sort of update
and some more information. I can take that away and speak to our government relations team and
sure she's got an update. If she's keen to have a meeting we can obviously do that as well.
I think on the meeting James that's a broader issue regarding the various restrictions of
turning into the A24 so we do need to set up that walkabout but I think Nick will probably
take that forward with you separately. Okay. But thanks for the offer.
Thank you. David. Yeah, I was only just to say that we have
previously done a route test with the 315 down there. So before any of this started,
we did take a bus down there and just walk it through the streets to make sure that we
probably didn't want to start on something that at the end of the process, we would likely
say oh you can't now do it so whilst James is right that it will be subject to a route test
we'd be very surprised if that came back with a showstopper or anything particularly negative.
Great thanks David. Any more on the 315?
Okay thank you very much. Next we've got two items on monitoring bus routes 14, 434 and 436.
Yeah so obviously this is a hot topic at the moment unfortunately. Basically I'll start with
the data we have available at this moment in time unfortunately. I don't know if
Councillor Yates, obviously you've had a lot of discussions
with Geoff here, is there anything you wanted to raise in the outset before I
kind of give a flavour of where we're at with things? Oh please go ahead James,
thanks. No okay great well obviously I think I outlined at last meeting that
our data around bus performance is one of the issues that's been affected by
the recent cyber attack on TfL unfortunately we still don't have any
updated data from the last data period we have is period three which is up until
the 21st of June so I have some excess wait time which is the is the usual
statistic that we you know judge bus performance on but that is only up until
the mid -June period. So on the 14, 430 and 436, so the 14 is showing currently at 1 .31.
This is generally acceptable for us, is around 1, anything above that is unfortunately not
really performing as we would like. Route 430 is at 1 .56 whilst Route 436 is at 0 .89.
But as I said, that is prior to a number of roadworks that are going on in this moment
in time in the Putney area which all these services, all these routes obviously serve.
So in terms of the traffic conditions, obviously they've materially subsequently changed.
Again for the worse, as a result of multiple sets of roadworks, some of these are unplanned.
Obviously emergency Thames Water Works in some areas, which has led to delays of up
to an hour at some days, sometimes in Putney area, which has obviously required a lot of
service curtailments at the Green Man to avoid huge gaps in service in the reverse
direction towards Kingston. The impact of these roadworks has been so great there's
little in practice drivers can actually do to maintain a reliable service for
customers at the moment. Instead the best operators can do at this point is to
mitigate the impact on passengers and staff, for example staying within the
legal driving hours that drivers can do. Often this takes a form of turning
services early before they get to Putney High Street so a great level of delay is
there in practice at Putney Green Man for example. Obviously it's got a knock -on impact
at the bus stand at Green Man and there's no high degree of occupation at the lighting
point there and stands by Putney Heath by terminating buses. This situation leads to
blocking back of buses at some times of the day, then in turn leaves drivers with limited
options of whether to enable passengers to alight safely so the risk the drivers
choose are pressed again to open the rear doors to open the passengers so it's
drop off passengers off on the road itself rather than the pavement. As such
we made decision to close the plenty green man alighting point not the stand
just the alighting point where the alighting point would ordinarily be used
by passengers alighting from the 14 and 37, instead looking at a position, a lighting
stop between Lytton Grove and Wildcroft Road, opposite the first northbound stop on Putney
Hill. So routes 493, 170, 39, 93, 85 and 44 will now only use Putney Heath, Green Man
as a turning point only in the interim i .e. not dropping off in the stand so we
would be in the process of organising this for our iBus system. We'll go ahead.
I know Sidonie you met with Dave Leslie our service delivery chap yesterday I
don't know if you wanted to add anything to that at all? No not really I think you
covered it. I mean, when we were there, the stand was working well. It was fine. We did
talk about a possible lighting point, as you mentioned. And we will come back with a response
on that shortly. But yeah, I think when we arrived, there were a couple of buses on the
stand that shouldn't have been there. So they moved off pretty quickly, I think, when they
saw Dave Leslie walking up and went to where they were supposed to be. But yeah, I think,
yeah be good to look at the management of that stand but we'll come back with
a more detailed response. Yeah I mean when I raised this obviously with
Geoff Hobbs who's our public transport service planning director he did sort of
raise one issue that he noted personally that on Putney High Street there was some
issues with cars are parking on WL Alliance, which has caused some, you know, the tailbacks
in some narrow parts of the High Street itself. So, which is obviously exacerbating some of
the delays itself. So, some reinforcement could be done, some more enforcement could
be done on Putney High Street to prevent vehicles, you know, parking on WL Alliance that might
help some of the throughput traffic on on Puntley High Street. But yeah, I'm happy to
say any questions here, Councillor. Obviously, I know you've had a lot of discussions with
with Geoff and Phil on this. So yeah.
Well, and yeah, I think we're passing over to Jenny now.
Yeah, thanks very much. James, yeah, on that last point you raised about, you know, when
Jeff went down there, there were fan unloading
and blocking all the traffic.
Yeah, I was really concerned to hear about that
and we'll pick that up.
But the problem is that, obviously we get told
that it's not safe to allow passengers to alight
at the Green Manor and therefore the buses
are forcing people to get off at Lytton Grove,
but then we get residents contacting us saying,
well, we've been at the Green Manor and it was empty.
So I do think there is an issue about the management
that bus stand and then a couple of other things you mentioned the 85 I mean
what we've been asking Phil Gerhard and Jeff Hobbs for is that we don't
understand why TfL basically don't just start running 85s that go to and from
the Green Man going west because the 85 is such a necessary bus to take people
on from the Green Man. People can use other buses generally to get to the Green Man but then they
get completely stuck because there isn't another bus that can take them down to Putney Vale.
We had had this long involved discussion about people being able to get on to the 85 at the
Green Man but I think the problem isn't solved because people don't... I just get told oh the
kind of emergency measure we are requested that you basically start running 85s to and from the
Green Man because at least they can get to the Green Man. Okay then they have terrible problems
you know going further or coming up to the Green Man but that that's our request and we haven't
really been able to get to the bottom of that why well that wouldn't be possible yet. I appreciate
that you know that's that's quite a big ask but it is a very difficult situation and the emails
we get from residents are dreadful. And then I just wanted to pick up on something that
was actually in the minutes, but I knew we were coming to this item. It's on page seven.
And it refers to the helpful meeting that we had with Geoff and Phil in Wandsworth back
in September. And it mentions that an action log had been created subsequent to that meeting.
but I haven't seen that.
I mean, after that meeting, I did send Geoff a detailed note
of the meeting with the actions that we agreed,
but I haven't seen any action logs.
So I wondered what was being referred to
and whether that was something that TfL had created
on your side and if that's the case,
if you would be able to send it on.
But like I say, I'm looking at page seven of the minutes.
Thank you.
Okay, first of all, obviously around the management of the stand, so it really would fall to our
service delivery team to make that decision. I know that obviously, Srdani referred to
the meeting she had yesterday with Dave from our service delivery team and he is the key
decision maker on the operation of that. So I will defer to him, obviously I will pass
your feedback on and it sounds like you know the council was preparing a response in itself
so we'll obviously look to receive that and respond to that as and when it comes in. In
terms of the 85 to and from the green man going west I can take that back. I'm looking
at Miguel we've not met before, hi Miguel, I don't know if you wanted to like come in
tool on that I don't know if it's the 85 on a go ahead there is that somebody
else's that's under London United's I know the route because I used to drive
the route before we actually got moved to London United's I think the problem
with it with agreement is how they enter the stand and then exit the stand there
isn't once they use the standard Papa heave green man there isn't a safe place
where they can actually board the passengers so that means that the driver
has to go into the middle of the stand make sure that no other bus leaves the
stand to allow the passengers to board safely. So once they use that stand the
only other bus stop that the passengers have to be able to board the bus safely
will be at the next bus stop after the green man heading towards Kingston. So I
think it's a design issue with a bus than anything else. Okay thank you for
that's useful. As I said, I'll take that feedback back and obviously speak to the service delivery
team and come back with an answer on that for you, Councillor. But yeah, and in terms
of the action log, that isn't one I recall, obviously, there was the action list that
we took away from meeting that you followed up in your email. I'll need to go back and
check exactly what we were referring to in that meeting last time but um yeah obviously there is
uh there was a number of actions that we took away to look into including on the 85 um so I know that
Jeff and the team are still working on that one the 170 obviously was it was a key one as well
that we we took away so we should have some answers for you on a number of those actions
in the next uh hopefully before Christmas I think um the 170 um we agreed sort of early in the new
year, but there were a number five of things on there as well
that escaped me right now. But yeah, I know that Geoff and the
team working on all those now.
Thank you. I've got a flurry of hands now. So Councillor Yea,
David Tiddley, then Michael, always.
And yeah, thanks, James. And if the action log just means the
note I did at the meeting, that's fine. And then on the 85
Yeah, no, thanks very much, Miguel. In fact, Philip Gerhard did agree that passengers would be able to alight there.
I hadn't heard about that other issue before, but the trouble is, I think it's just it's not clear to passengers and it I don't really think it's happening.
So we still need further sort of clarification. But anyway, if you kindly said you'll get back to me about this, James.
So thanks very much for that.
And yes, the 170, I continue to be lobbied by residents
who are finding it very difficult to get on the 170
because it's just so full.
But just for your info, you know that's an issue.
Thank you.
Thank you, Chancellor.
I'm going to go to David.
And also welcome to another David joining the call as well,
David Hewson.
Thank you.
So David Tiddley.
Yeah, it was.
This was Miguel who's here, actually,
because he might be able to help.
But I wanted to have a quick word about 39.
It largely avoided being the subject of a lot of complaints,
although it is actually the route I use very well.
And I gave up on it about six weeks ago.
I thought I'd try it again yesterday
and had a 50 -minute wait for it.
And then I tried it again this morning
and just gave up and walked to work. For a service that is supposed to run about every
ten minutes, it's route through the West Hill area particularly, it is the only bus that
that area really has and it's been really poor in the last few weeks. That's certainly
my experience. I'm just curious as to whether Miguel, that's been your experience as well?
The problem that we have at the moment is we can't see the buses on the diagram due to the cyber attack that TfL experienced recently.
And then we got other two major issues as well, or actually three, is the roadworks within the area.
So we got roadworks at Patney, roadworks at Wandsworth and then roadworks at Ayresfield.
So that's a major corridor, which then with all the displacement traffic is becoming really, really difficult to be able to run services on time at the moment.
So we're hoping that things will improve as soon as they complete the works in Wandsworth and Patney High Street and everything will go back to normal as it used to be before.
At the moment with the delays that we experienced of 40 minutes, 50 minutes within the vicinity,
it is really, really hard and our hands are tied to the moment.
Thank you very much. Michael?
Thank you, Chair. I think you've already covered it, but it was just to welcome David
who's from the police so I think after the bus item you might want to go back to the crime.
Okay yeah that's useful because I didn't know where David was joining us from so yeah thank you very much for highlighting Michael.
Yes so I think the next item, so we've got two more items under the buses item and then we'll go to crime and then do AOB.
but so next is bus routes 39, 93 and 493. Yeah sure so again the data here is I
only have up until the end of June but route 39 again with an ambition of
being around 1 is over at 1 .52 in terms of the excess wait time route 93 was in
uh June at least down 0 .78 and route 493 was at 0 .97. Again obviously these will be
routes that go in and around the Putney area which will be affected by the the works and
roadworks that we've been going on that we've already discussed again.
Obviously if there's anything specific I can I can take those away.
Thanks James. Any point of queries on that one?
Okay well thanks for the update and the final one under this is the long -running Longley Road bus stand.
Yeah so Miguel I don't know if you know this one better than me but the information I've got back
from Pupinder Singh who I believe works with you is that communications have been issued
again to drivers regarding the concerns at his location and go ahead and arrange for
ad hoc stand checks to take place to ensure drivers are being compliant. I don't know
if you wanted to come in at all Miguel, or if that's fine for Pabst.
Absolutely, so they have recently sent all the emails again to the drivers. We've been
sending I -VAS officials to the area on an ad hoc basis to report any driver that is
failing to adhere to the standing arrangements in place. Then those reports, once they are
submitted, then any support of the nation is dealt with accordingly under the company
procedures. But at the moment that's where we are sending officials down there to make
sure that drivers comply with the standing arrangements.
And I mean obviously this has been on the agenda for a number of meetings now so obviously
we'd be happy to have a meeting on site if council think that that would be an avenue
to try and improve the situation. But obviously we'll continue to work with the operator in
meantime anyway. Thank you. Sidonia, I know that last meeting you've been down there
or you've kind of been working on this, haven't you? Have I got the wrong number correctly? Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, I'd had a few meetings down there with Papinda's colleagues and also
Dave Leslie and to be honest I haven't had any complaints about this really
recently so I'm hoping that you know all the measures that you're taking are
are working down there. So I mean we'll keep an eye on it because it's been going on for years.
But yeah at the moment I haven't had reports. I have a resident who lives very close to
the stand who sends sort of large numbers of photos and reports and he hasn't been in touch
recently so that's good news. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah and usually residents do let us know if there
is an issue and sounds like something we get in our council inbox as well. All right, thanks
all for that. Okay, I'm going to jump back then to the item on crime and welcome David
Hewson to the meeting. You're able to hear us okay?
Yes, thank you. Apologies for being late. I've only just cleared from an incident. Unfortunately,
it's quite tricky for us to commit to meetings in our job.
No, of course we completely understand and actually we were talking earlier about kind of
how we make the most out of kind of your time and your involvement and kind of the crime figures
that we receive making and what we said earlier in the meeting was obviously we like to see them
and kind of see where what how they're tracking but equally if it's proving that it's kind of a
two -figure quest to kind of produce for these meetings it might well be that we can work on
smaller sets or less frequent or just making sure that kind of your time and
ours is used kind of most valuable and making sure that we're not putting too
many pressures on the police to produce something for these meetings.
Yeah, we do have some data on stations on Wunworth. I will be warning you,
we are picking up on an issue with our data collection at the moment in that
way the British Transport Police in particular records their crimes is ever so slightly skewed
because we have to add a physical low fashion and if it's happened on board a moving service
we will record the end station or the station at which the offence was reported. So all of them
need to be given a little bit of leeway. Thanks and I think we've seen that before
definitely when we've seen figures and you know that definitely at Clapham Junction there's quite
lot of them get reports. So yeah, I think we're kind of alive to that fact that we have quite a
few kind of ten minutes or big areas like that where crime is reported, but it happens to be
because of that, I think. So no, thank you for clarifying them.
Yeah, Clapham Junction in particular, we, so I've had some figures from Tim Dyson across,
he's the Clapham Sergeant, I'm actually based in Richmond, so darling on his behalf.
Clapham Junction in particular has shown a year -on -year decrease of about 14%, which
we're attributing to proactive work between ourselves, the Metropolitan Police and partners
within industry.
We conducted drug operations throughout September, which yielded some good results.
and tomorrow in fact, sorry, it's early, next Monday I believe we will be deploying with the
Clapham team and with partners from industry, revenue inspectors, railway community officers,
it's sort of a big show of force. One of the things we're trying to focus on in terms of
the purpose of our deployment is to target hardened areas, so we're looking to prevent
defending rather than protecting and dealing with after the fact. One thing of note would
be an increase at Battersea Power Station, simply because it's new, there aren't any
figures to compare it to. And also Tooting Broadway and Ballon in particular, are showing
increases of 120 % and 30 % respectively, which we're
attributing to operations which are skewing our detection
figures. So there's been, again, drug dog deployments and work
with industry partners to deploy as a big show of force. It's
increasing our detection rate because we're detecting things
in real time. So again, deterring and detecting and
preventing rather than dealing with reported incidents after
the fact.
Thank you. Can you just clarify 120 % increase that was at Broadway or Ballum?
Sorry, that is Broadway, shooting Broadway is showing as a year on year increase. So
recorded crimes 22 to 23 was 14, 23 to 24 has gone up to 45.
And that's because you're detecting more so therefore the reporting rate is higher because
of the production in that area.
Yeah, so we're effectively skewing on our own numbers.
That's why I just wanted to make sure that I understood those.
So thank you.
This is the tricky thing with crime recording is that if it's reported after the fact by
staff or public, obviously it's more of a concern if we're detecting it ourselves because the
the whole point is to proactively prevent high harm offending by dealing with the lesser offences
such as drugs possession through drug stock operations, revenue offences by deploying with
industry partners, effectively interrupting the movement of criminality on the network before it
can become high harm offending. Understood, thank you and sorry to have interrupted,
I just want to make sure that I got understood that. No, no, so one additional thing to note with
the increase in these locations is as part of our elements we obviously have a heavy focus on
community and stakeholder engagement and a big thing that is coming from our force centrally
is the 6 -1 -0 -1 -6 sector reporting service because that's now free which is encouraging more people
to use it and the railway guardian app so centrally from British Transport Police and as part of a
push for reporting which is increasing the amount of reports coming through and in turn that means
more recorded crimes so it has to be looked at sort of from that perspective. Thank you and what
was second the Railway Guardian app did you say? Yes so they've developed an app for iPhone and
Android which allows direct reporting into our control room and also the collation of evidence
in real time. So one of the, as much as the 6 .1 .0 .1 .6 text service has been successful,
everyone knows the number, you hear it repeatedly on the railway, it only works if you have signal
to text. Until recently it required a third -party application for us to apply. It's now built into
control system so the controllers at Alestra can have a conversation with someone in real time,
it is not safe for them to have an actual phone call, but because it's an SMS -based service,
we couldn't receive pictures or multimedia evidence, so that would slow down things such
as identifying suspects, whereas with the Railway Guardian app, they can send us pictures and videos
directly that can be shared with officers on the ground, increases our detection rate. We're not
relying on someone's descriptive skills, we're actually getting a picture and we can process it
ourselves.
Thank you and that's not something I'd
thanks for you joining us. I appreciate the busy work that you do
and you making time to talk to us this evening and to highlight that. And just I'll repeat what
I said earlier before you joined at the Starlin meeting that we're open to a conversation as to
how we kind of make these meetings productive but without asking too much from your side on kind of
producing reports and whether it's a subsection of data or kind of frequency happy to pick up with
yourself, your colleague probably more likely?
Yeah, of course, all I would probably ask on his behalf is
that if there's a particular area of offending or particular
location that is flagging within your own agencies, the more
detail you ask for the better. See, we record crime in a
particular way as to fall under a certain heading. They may not
always marry up with an area of concern for your communities.
um because it has to fall under an umbrella and the way English law works is it may not be truly
reflective of the nature of the offending and therefore the community concern um but we are
focusing on our own force priorities which I imagine are cross -reference um with those of the
council um in particular robbery across London any sort of weapons enabled offenses uh the movement
of drugs on the network. That includes possession and supply. And violence against women and
girls is very high up for us. So we are one of the advantages of the Railway Guardian
app that we are pushing out to our own stakeholders and communities is allowing a more confidential
way of someone reporting. And we are also holistically looking to engage with other
agencies, schools, colleges at the pertinent times of the year such as
freshers around September, October for example,
towards the school holidays looking to engage with
those areas of the community that we would identify as most at risk
and not only promote reporting but also promote
accurate reporting so we're getting the pertinent information that we need
to successfully seek and prosecute perpetrators.
for example, we will be in Merton next week for an event with Safer Business Partnership,
having face to face conversations about just that, what to report, how to report it, tips
for keeping yourself safe, the things that we would need in the event that the right
words will occur. So if you do have any similar events within your own agencies, by all means
reach out, we'd love to engage.
Thank you very much. I really appreciate that. I'm just going to do one final check for any questions to David.
No, okay. Well, thank you very much, David. So, kind of going back to the agenda now is we are now under the business agenda item 7.
And so the two items proposed on there are proposed changes to bus route 452 and TFL
new toilet programme.
Are there any other items to consider for the next meeting and appreciate we've had
to in quite close together for our programme, but it will be a bit further down the line.
So if there are for the next agenda, which is that it's currently scheduled for the 13th
but we are looking to change that,
but it will be around that time.
But just to kind of those on the call
and to reiterate what I said earlier,
if there are items that you'd like to present at the meeting
as it gets nearer the time, then do let Michael know,
and we can make sure that we create agenda
that covers kind of the standing items,
but also if there's anything
in particular you want to highlight
of significance or importance in Wandsworth,
then do please let us know.
And if that's presentations or discussions,
then we're happy to try and accommodate those as far as possible.
But any other business right now that people want to suggest?
No? Okay, so thanks very much and we'll be in touch about the date in March when we know it.
But that concludes the business of tonight's meeting. I think,
does it Michael? Unless you remind me of this. Yep, he's nodding at me. So that concludes the
meeting this evening just say thank you to all of you who joined us especially those
of a few new faces this evening so thank you and enjoy the rest of your evening.
Thank you very much.