Greater London Authority London Assembly – 6 September 2000
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Greater London Authority London Assembly – 6 September 2000 Greater Greater London Authority London Authority London Assembly Minutes of the meeting of the London Assembly held on Wednesday, 6 September 2000 at 10 a.m. In Room AG16 at Romney House, Marsham Street, Westminster Present: Trevor Phillips (Chair) Sally Hamwee (Deputy Chair) Jennette Arnold Victor Anderson Tony Arbour Richard Barnes John Biggs Louise Bloom Graham Tope Brian Coleman Lynne Featherstone Roger Evans Toby Harris Nicky Gavron Meg Hillier Samantha Heath Andrew Pelling Jennifer Jones Elizabeth Howlett Eric Ollerenshaw Bob Neill Angie Bray Darren Johnson Valerie Shawcross 16jul00version 1 Greater London Authority London Assembly – 6 September 2000 00/50 APOLOGIES Apologies for absence were received from Len Duvall and for lateness from Nicky Gavron, Roger Evans and Bob Neill. 00/51 MINUTES OF MEETINGS HELD ON 24, 27 and 28 JULY 2000 The Minutes of these meetings were confirmed as a correct record subject to the following amendments: 24 July 2000 That Graham Tope and Elizabeth Howlett be recorded as attending the meeting. Minute 35/00 - replace "group" with "party" in the last line of the first paragraph. That the Deputy Chair be given authority to approve the correction of various typographical errors in the minutes. 28 July Resolution 3 (3) (iv) to read: To obtain Leading Counsel's opinion where necessary on all of (i) to (iii) above. Resolution 3 (3) (v) to read: To act and instruct the relevant Chief Officers to act, on Leading Counsels' advice including recruitment based on that advice. 00/52 CHAIR’S BUSINESS With the agreement of the meeting, the Chair deferred consideration of the minutes of the previous three Assembly meetings until the end of the proceedings, and announced the intention to allow two urgent items: (i) Notting Hill Carnival The Chair introduced the matter of the Notting Hill Carnival by referring to the deep concern over the events that took place there over the weekend of XXXX. He invited the constituency member, Angie Bray, and the Chair of the MPA to make statements. Angie Bray, on behalf of the whole Assembly, offered the families of the two people who had been murdered, Members’ deepest condolences and, reflecting also on the fact that there had been a number of people wounded in other incidents, extended 16jul00version 2 Greater London Authority London Assembly – 6 September 2000 members’ sympathies to them as well. She spoke of the development of the Carnival from small beginnings to its present status as an international event, and a testament to the dedication of the local community, the local Council, the Police and others.who have worked with and to get it going. It had, however, become a target for street crime, leaving the local community to pick up the tab at the end of the event. Angie Bray expressed the hope that the Mayor’s inquiry would take a serious look at getting the event right for the future. Further, she expressed the hope that the local Council and the Police would be used in the inquiry. In conclusion, Angie Bray asked that the inquiry be undertaken quickly, as preparations were imminent for the 2001 Carnival. Toby Harris echoed the condolences to the families of the two people who had been murdered, and recognised that the problems at the Notting Hill Carnival reflected the sheer volume of numbers involved and the scale and success of the event. He recognised that the vast majority of those who went had a very happy and enjoyable experience. Toby Harris found it entirely helpful that the Mayor had agreed to set up an inquiry, and hoped it would be broad ranging and speedy because of the early need for decisions about the arrangements for 2001. He outlined some of the issues which he believed the inquiry should consider and hoped that it would involve Angie Bray herself as the Constituency Assembly Member for the area concerned and a representative of the Police Authority as well as the Police Service. Toby Harris concluded with the confirmation that all concerned wanted there to be a Notting Hill Carnival and for it to be the happy event that most people experienced this year, but the prime concern must be public safety. That had to be the overriding objective, and he was confident that the Mayor’s inquiry would produce proposals which would enable that to be fulfilled in future years. The Chair stated that, in the discussions held over the weekend, the question of the Assembly membership of the inquiry was raised and the conclusion was that the constituency member concerned should be invited to be a member of that inquiry and that the inquiry would report very quickly within the space of six weeks or so. (ii) Title of GLA Members The Chair reminded everyone that the abbreviated suffix for Assembly Members was GLA and not other variations such as LAM which had been used in some instances by the media. 00/53 DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS There was none. 00/54 TRANSPORT 16jul00version 3 Greater London Authority London Assembly – 6 September 2000 The Chair welcomed the following to the meeting: Dave Wetzel, Deputy Chair, Transport for London Richard Smith, Director of Integration, Transport for London Derek Smith, Managing Director, London Underground Mike Strzelecki, Director of Safety, Quality and Environment, London Underground Tony Maguire, Director of Communications, London Underground Mark Watts, Mayor’s Policy Adviser on Transport The Assembly also had before them paper from Derek Smith on safety on the Underground (Attached as Appendix A to the minutes). The Chair invited Dave Wetzel and Derek Smith to make opening statements which would be followed by questions from Assembly members. DAVE WETZEL Thank you, Chair. When I first got the invitation we discussed the legal requirements. I understand that had I refused to come today, I would have been facing three months or three years in jail and a massive fine. Talking to Trevor on the phone, he said no it won’t be anything like that, it is just the stocks in Marsham Street and the people throwing the tomatoes. So I am here. Much as I want to, I cannot tell you what will be in the Mayor’s transport strategy because as you know it has not yet been published for consultation. So all I can do is first of all thank you for the invitation and I welcome the chance to take part in your democratic process and to give you some idea of my personal vision for transport in London. My first feelings are an impatience for change. I think London has suffered too long and I actually am very keen to see that things do change and change dramatically for Londoners and for all visitors to London as well. I think what the Labour Government has done in creating the GLA and then creating Transport for London under the Mayor gives us all a marvellous opportunity to improve London’s transport system. If we do not all grab it with both hands and make the most of it, not only will Londoners not forgive us, but I think history would not forgive us. My view of transport is first of all that I want to see as little transport as possible. I actually want to see local communities flourish, where people can enjoy local jobs, local libraries, local hospitals and use their feet to get around whenever they can. I want to see us use more things like video conferencing and tele- working so that some journeys become unnecessary. I want to see good facilities provided, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists, to encourage people not to have to use energy consuming transport systems. But having said that, I want London to have a world-class public transport system. We are a world- class city and at the present time, our transport system lets us down in more ways than one. I want to see our system safe and of high quality. I want people to actually choose to use public transport rather than have to sit in their car. 16jul00version 4 Greater London Authority London Assembly – 6 September 2000 Steve Norris told me the story the other day of a Tory Government Minister who was caught in a traffic jam and he decided to use the underground. I do not know how true it is, but he said what is an underground. Anyway when he got down to the platform he was asking which car was the restaurant car. I think it does make a difference if you have people like you and me and Ken that use public transport actually responsible to Londoners for trying to deliver a good a public transport system. I also want a system that is frequent, reliable, integrated, environmentally friendly and economic, both in terms of fares for the individual and its operating costs. I was going to include predictable but of course I realise that the system we have got now is predictable. My journey here today was predictable. I got off the Piccadilly Line train and on to the District Line. It was only on the District Line that they announced that there were trains queuing to get into Earls Court station and there would be some delay. Same old story. But I want a system that people actually do not talk about in the pub. I have never been in a pub and heard people say “do you know, this morning I switched on the tap and lovely clean drinking water came out." You expect it, it happens and I want our transport system to be like that.