Minutes 113/06/04 – 125/06/04
Transport for London

Minutes of a meeting of the Board
held on Wednesday 23 June 2004, commencing at 10.00 a.m.
in the Chamber, City Hall, the Queen’s Walk, London, SE1 2AA

Present:
Board Members:	Dave Wetzel (in the Chair) 			David Begg 	
	Stephen Glaister				Sir Mike Hodgkinson
	Oli Jackson				Susan Kramer	
	Paul Moore				Murziline  Parchment	Tony West

In attendance: 
Special Advisors:	Bryan Heiser					Lynn Sloman

TfL Officers:	Mike Austerbury					Maggie Bellis
	Ian Brown					Stephen Critchley
	Isabel Dedring					Mary Hardy
	Stuart Harvey					Peter Hendy
	Ellen Howard					Robert Kiley
	Locksley Ryan					Fiona Smith
	Valerie Todd					Tim O’Toole
	Jay Walder

Secretary:	Louisa Sherry

113/06/04	APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE	
		
	Apologies for absence were received from Bob Crow, Kirsten Hearn, Ken Livingstone, Sir Gulam Noon and David Quarmby.	

114/06/04	MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING HELD ON 29 APRIL 2004	
		
	The minutes of the meeting held on 29 April 2004 were agreed and signed as an accurate record.	
		
115/06/04	MATTERS ARISING	
		
	There were no matters arising.

The Chair reminded members to declare any interests in the papers presented.  Mike Hodgkinson declared an interest in the Piccadilly Line Extension to Heathrow Terminal 5 item.	

116/06/04	COMMISSIONER’S REPORT	
		
	The Board considered the Commissioner’s report for June 2004.  The key points arising from the discussion were:

•	because of the road safety statistics, the use of the Thames Gateway Bridge and entry into the Congestion Charging Zone (both at no cost) by powered two-wheel vehicles should be kept under review; 
•	TfL have commissioned the Transport Research Laboratory to conduct an independent review into consultation and implementation of cycling schemes, following the cycle accident on Blackfriars Bridge.    The findings will be made public and circulated to Board Members; and
•	concern that the timescale for lodging a hybrid Bill in March 2005 for Crossrail may slip to November 2005, despite the best efforts of the Chair to secure an early response from Government.  

The Board noted the Commissioner’s report.	
		
117/06/04	FINANCE AND PERFORMANCE REPORT	
		
	Jay Walder introduced this paper by highlighting the four key achievements for the 4th quarter:

a)	a 10% increase in bus patronage the size of the bus network and the highest levels of customer satisfaction with London buses;
b)	a continued reduction in traffic congestion of 30% within the congestion charging zone and evidence of a sustained modal shift from car to bus of 4%;
c)	in the first year of operation over 2 million Oyster cards are in circulation.  The challenge now is to solidify public trust and confidence in the system and market the Oyster card to expand its market share; and
d)	operating efficiency savings in back-of-house services of £42 million have been achieved, against an estimate of £18m.	
	
The impact on income of the shortfall in the number of passenger journeys on the Underground (versus the expectations in the financial plan adopted by Government at the time of the PPP) is being kept under review with a report being presented to the next meeting of the Finance Committee and an update to the Board on 22 July.
Jay Walder

In discussion, members raised the following points:

•	over the next few years, the Board should consider how it can build and expand on the success of congestion charging; and

•	that, based on the good working relationships which had been built between the Borough Partnerships Team and the Boroughs, it may be possible for TfL to become involved in the public spaces agenda.

The Board noted the report.	
		
118/06/04	PPP CONTRACT PERFORMANCE	
		
	Tim O’Toole advised the Board of the lengthy negotiations that had taken place to try and avoid the strike action by the RMT the following week.  He also advised that, although it is unclear at the moment what services will be operating, contingency planning is under way.  Discussions are taking place with the Metropolitan Police about additional assistance and a communications strategy was being developed to ensure clear information is available to the public.  

Peter Hendy said that, in the event of a dispute, London Buses would operate as full a service as possible and that the Metropolitan Police Service and British Transport Police would be involving in assisting crowd control and traffic flow.	
		
	Tim O’Toole reported briefly on PPP contractual performance and the Board noted the paper.	
		
119/06/04	BEST VALUE PERFORMANCE PLAN	
		
	Stephen Critchley advised the Board that TfL is required to produce the Best Value Performance Plan on an annual basis and the Annex to the paper provides additional information required to comply with statute.  Robert Kiley reminded members that almost every subject covered by the Performance Indicators are measured and monitored elsewhere in the organisation in a more relevant and meaningful way.

Bryan Heiser requested more information about the process for arriving at the equality performance indicator for access to buildings and it was agreed that he should meet Valerie Todd and Stephen Critchley.
Stephen Critchley

Following a short discussion, the Board approved the contents of the Annex and agreed to delegate authority to the Managing Director, Finance and Planning, to make changes to the Best Value Performance Plan, prior to its publication by the end of the month.	
		
120/06/04	PICCADILLY LINE EXTENSION TO HEATHROW TERMINAL 5	
		
	Mike Hodgkinson declared an interest in this item and did not take part in the discussion.  

Tim O’Toole introduced this paper by reminding the Board that the paper had been presented to the Finance Committee and been the subject of fairly in depth discussion already.  Stuart Harvey summarised the key points.

One member raised an ongoing concern about the capacity of Piccadilly Line to deal with the increased number of passengers and their luggage.

The Board approved the resolution as follows:

1.	Approved the contents of the Project Agreement, Parent Company Guarantee and the Agreement for Lease, subject to such additions, deletions or amendments as may be authorised by the Commissioner or the Managing Director Finance and Planning.

2	Agreed, subject to the consent of the Secretary of State having been obtained pursuant to Section 207 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999:

i)	that the Commissioner or, in his absence, the Managing Director Finance and Planning, shall have delegated authority on behalf of TfL to permit execution by London Underground Limited via any one of its company directors, LUL company secretary or LUL Head of Legal Services, to sign and/or seal and deliver on behalf of London Underground Limited the Project Agreement, Parent Company Guarantee and the Agreement for Lease (including any additions, deletions or amendments as may have been authorised by the Commissioner or the Managing Director Finance and Planning in accordance  with Resolution 1 above)

ii)	that the Commissioner or the Managing Director Finance and Planning shall authorise London Underground Limited to do all such further things necessary in connection with completing the  Project Agreement and authorise LUL to sign and/or seal such further documents including contracts as are required in connection with the documents referred to above.

3	Approved the release of funds from the Group Budget and Business Plan UIP 8791 to the value of £18.52 million across 2004/05 to 2008/09.  Further release funds from UIP 8301 to a value of £59.08 million across 2004/05 to 2008/09, fully reimbursable by HAL.	
		
121/06/04	AUDIT COMMITTEE REPORT	
		
	The Board noted the report on the proceedings of the Audit Committee meeting held on 25 May 2004.	

122/06/04	FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT	
		
	The Board noted the report on the matters discussed at the Finance Committee meeting held on 11 March 2004 and in particular, the Committee’s concern about the level of fraudulent use of credit/debit cards at unattended ticket machines on the Underground.  The Committee had requested an action plan to address this issue.	
		
123/06/04	TfL HSE POLICY STATEMENT	
		
	The Board approved the new Health, Safety and Environment Policy Statement.	
		
124/06/04	DOCUMENTS SEALED ON BEHALF OF TfL	
		
	The Board noted the documents sealed on behalf of TfL between 11 March and 9 June 2004.	
		
125/06/04	ANY OTHER BUSINESS	
		
	There being no further business, the meeting closed at 11.17 hours	

______________________
CHAIR