Transport for London

Minutes of a meeting of the Board
held on Wednesday 28 May 2003, commencing at 10.05 a.m. 
in The Chamber, City Hall, the Queen’s Walk, London 

Present: 	Ken Livingstone (Chair)
Board Members:	David Begg
	Stephen Glaister 
	Noel Harwerth
	Kirsten Hearn
	Mike Hodgkinson
	Oli Jackson 
	Paul Moore 
	Murziline Parchment
	David Quarmby 
	Tony West
	Dave Wetzel (Vice Chair)

In attendance:
Special Advisors	Bryan Heiser
	Lynn Sloman
	
TfL Officers: 	Robert Kiley
	Maggie Bellis
	Maggie Boepple
	Ian Brown
	Stephen Critchley
	Gareth Davies
	Isabel Dedring
	Jacqui Gregory
	Mary Hardy
	Peter Hendy
	Pip Hesketh
	Malcolm Murray-Clarke
	Tim O’Toole
	Jay Walder
		
Secretary:	Alan Busson 

27/03	APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE 

Apologies for absence had been received from Bob Crow and Susan Kramer.

28/03	MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING HELD ON 20 MARCH 2003

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 March 2003 were agreed as a true record of the meeting and signed by the Chair.

29/03	MATTERS ARISING

There were no matters arising.

30/03	DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

	The Chair reminded Board Members of the requirement to declare any interests in the matters under discussion.  There were no interests declared.

31/03	COMMISSIONER’S REPORT

	The Commissioner’s Report was noted by the Board.  The following issues 
were discussed:

West London Tram - Noted that Ken Livingstone would be meeting with 
representatives of the five London Boroughs affected by the West London Tram 
Project.  More work was being carried out to assess traffic impact and addressing local residents concerns.  

Docklands Light Railway – British Telecom continued to object to the extension of the DLR to Woolwich.  It was noted that Ken Livingstone had offered to meet with the Chairman of BT to try to persuade BT to drop their challenge at the Public Inquiry.

32/03	FINANCE AND PERFORMANCE REPORT

	Jay Walder gave a presentation in respect of the TfL Operating, Project and 
Financial Performance for the financial year 2002/03.  The following points 
were noted:

Overall expenditure for the year was in line with budget.  Income was 
£16 million below budget due to lower bus revenue, as customers switched from cash fares to discounted products, and reduced CCS income, as fewer vehicles entered the zone than had been expected.  Based on the management accounts, £23 million would be transferred to TfL’s reserves.

Jay Walder explained that the £9 million underspend on the walking/cycling arose as the programme had proved more ambitious than TfL could roll-out.  It was noted that greater focus would be placed on meeting the 2003/4 budget programme regarding walking/cycling improvements.

Concern was expressed that the customer satisfaction survey measure of safety and security on buses had failed to reach the required performance target during the period under review, (if only narrowly).  Peter Hendy stated that remedial action was being taken to address this issue.

Bryan Heiser asked when it would be compulsory for all London’s bus fleet to 
have working bus ramps before they were allowed into service.  Peter Hendy replied stating that there would soon be 100% bus ramp coverage on all London buses.  London Buses would be bringing in arrangements such that there would be a serious penalty for bus operators if buses left their respective garages without the ramps.

Violence on the eastern end of the District Line which had affected London 
Underground staff and the travelling public was discussed.   It was agreed that 
there were a number of measures that needed to be implemented, including 
increasing the visible police presence to reduce the amount of violent crime that 
has been occurring.

The Board noted the report. 

33/03	BEST VALUE PERFORMANCE PLAN

	The Board noted the Best Value Performance Plan.  The Board:

1.	approved the revisions of TfL’s Best Value Performance Plan as detailed in the Paper submitted to the board for consideration; and
2.	delegated to the Managing Director, Finance and Planning the authority to make the final changes to the Best Value Performance Plan prior to its publication on 30 June 2003.

34/03	BORROWING LIMIT

	The Board discussed the paper relating to TFL’s short term borrowing limit.

	The Board:

1.	Approved the increase in The Short Term Borrowing Limit from its present level of £20 million to £40 million.
2.	Approved that the Managing Director, Finance and Planning (or in his absence, the Chief Finance Officer) must approve short term borrowing in excess of £20 million.
3.	Approved that the Commissioner (or in his absence, the Managing Director, Finance and Planning) must approve short term borrowing in excess of £30 million.

It was further agreed that notwithstanding the above approvals, the Board should still be asked to approve any borrowing if such borrowings were ‘gross’ borrowings, that is, not covered by other credit balances within TfL accounts.

35/03	CONGESTION CHARGING UPDATE

It was reported that over three months had elapsed since the introduction of congestion charging.  Its implementation had been successful, but it was still too early to reach any long term conclusions about the scheme. 

It was noted that TfL would shortly be publishing baseline data for monitoring the effects of Congestion Charging, which would assist in assessing the economic, social and wider impact relating to the introduction of Congestion Charging in London.

	The Board noted the report

36/03	ANY OTHER BUSINESS
		
	Board of Directors of London Transport Insurance (Guernsey) Limited (LTIG)

The Board was asked to approve the appointment of Nigel Blore, TfL’s Group Risk Manager, to the board of LTIG.  It was noted that the appointment required the prior consent of the Guernsey Financial Services Commission and also under the articles of association of LTIG, the approval of the board of directors of LTIG.

It was agreed that Nigel Blore be appointed as a director of the Board of LTIG, noting that such appointment was subject to the consent of the Guernsey Financial Services Commission.  It was noted that upon receipt of the consent of the Guernsey Financial Services Commission, the appointment of Nigel Blore would be effected by the Board of LTIG at its next meeting.

 There being no further business, the meeting closed at 11.05am.

_____________________________	
Chairman