Tag Council Meeting

TAG COUNCIL MEETING ON FRIDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2009 THE INSTITUTION OF HIGHWAYS & TRANSPORTATION CROMPTON No 1 ROOM, 119 BRITANNIA WALK, LONDON N17JE COMMENCING AT 10.30 AM DRAFT MINUTES PRESENT

TAG Council Martin Low TAG President Tim Walker TAG Senior Vice President – by telephone link Bob Donaldson Past TAG President Andy Morris Past TAG President Doug Wright Secretary, TAG Coastal/Fluvial Management Committee Alan Hayes Chairman, Municipal Expert Panel

TAG Officers Roy Fairclough General Secretary Jim Kinchesh Hon Treasurer

1) WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS Martin Low, TAG President welcomed everyone to the meeting, especially Tim Walker via a telephone link and Alan Hayes from ICE/MEP.

2) APOLOGIES Apologies for TAG Council received from John Elliott, D Thomson, D White, M Wright, Mick Murphy, Mick Stone, Roger Sired, Phil Moore, Satbir Gill, Steve Keetley, Bill Batey, John Bolland, Derek Lawlor, Paul Topley, Marcus Campbell, Amrit Ghose. Mani, Ian Crook & Mark Reilly.

3) KEY TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION a) TAG Website Improvement The Secretary outlined details of a meeting that he and John Elliott had with Pulse8 in Totnes on 2 September 2009, where the work required to the TAG website to make it useful to TAG members was discussed. Pulse8 had subsequently submitted an estimate of £1339 to carry out the work required. A lengthy discussion then ensued. It was felt by TAG Council that some of the work required should possibly have been done by Pulse8 during the previous work on the TAG website. In addition, TAG Council would like some form of instruction from Pulse8 about use of the website and a guarantee that TAG is getting what it is asking for so that the website will be easy to manage and useful to TAG members. Subject to these comments, this one-off payment to improve the TAG website was agreed unanimously. Tim Walker said that TAG NI would be willing to contribute £500 towards the cost of this work. The TAG President said that other consultants may be willing to contribute to this work and that his sponsor would pay about £500 towards these costs. Meanwhile, he will contact other consultants. The Secretary undertook to liaise with Pulse8 and the TAG Treasurer and TAG PRO accordingly. ACTION: TAG President, Secretary, Treasurer & PRO b) Video Conferencing – Andy Morris Andy Morris said that the video conferencing system used by Jacobs could be used for a TAG Council meeting. The most useful ‘hubs’ for such a meeting were discussed and it was agreed that they should be:- London, Newcastle, Exeter and Belfast. The most suitable meeting for this to be

1 tried out was discussed and it was agreed to try it out at the TAG Council meeting on 5 March 2010. The Next TAG Council meeting on 4 December was agreed to be held in Belfast, NI commencing at 10 am followed by the TAG NI Regional meeting. The Secretary asked for a telephone link to be set up for him for this meeting.

4) WORK OF TAG COMMITTEES a) Coastal & Fluvial Management Committee The President reported that he had attended the last meeting of this committee and they were pleased to meet the new TAG President. Doug Wright, Committee Secretary, then went through his written report, which had been circulated prior to the meeting.

COASTAL ISSUES Coastal Forum TAG now has a seat on the national Coastal Forum, represented by Ron Eckersley, Vice Chairman of the TAG C&FM committee. Ron considers that the restructured forum is now more inclusive and has a new sense of purpose.

Regional Coastal Groups There is still an issue with involvement of elected members in RCGs. Though RCG rules make it clear that they are technical, not political groups, member involvement is seen as beneficial because it gives them democratic credibility. Bryan Curtis, a member of TAG C&FM committee and chair of RCG chairs, has prepared a paper on democratic input into RCGs, with the aid of LGA and coastal SIG, to try to resolve this matter. Financing of RCGs still remains problematic. Provision of funding by the EA is not consistent across the country and generally not enough to pay for the increasing workload borne by RCG Chairmen. This is particularly true for Bryan Curtis in his role of chair of RCG chairs. Bryan will monitor the national situation over the next 6-12 months and if resource problems are not resolved will seek TAG’s help in presenting a case to government for additional resources.

Coastal Adaptation Fund The government launched a consultation on its proposals to establish a coastal adaptation fund in June this year, which finishes on 25 September. Where no action is taken to save the coast, it proposes an £11m fund to support people whose property is lost due to coastal erosion. The fund would make payments towards the cost of relocation, removal and demolition once the property was vacated. The amount would be capped at £3 - £4,000. Additionally, payment may be made for emotional upheaval. This may help with the adoption of Shoreline Management Plans. Local authority ‘pathfinder projects’ are running in parallel with the consultation and Peter Frew, a member of the TAG C&FM committee, sits on the Coastal Adaptation Board.

FLUVIAL ISSUES Pitt Review/Flood and Water Management Bill Tony Brummell, a member of TAG C&FM committee, worked closely with and provided advice to the LGA in formulating a response to the Pitt review and in the run-up to publication of the draft Flood and Water Management Bill. TAG’s response to the draft F&WM Bill was sent to DEFRA on 21 July. A letter of acknowledgement and thanks was received from DEFRA on 13 August. There is not enough money for the Maintenance Plans and it is unlikely that the Bill will clarify responsibility for flooding. The possibility of running TAG seminars on the Bill will be discussed at the next C&FM committee meeting on 5 November. It was generally felt that it would be better to wait until the Bill was enacted.

2 Local Flood Risk Management Partnerships The F&WM Bill establishes, inter-alia, upper-tier authorities as the lead authorities in forming local flood risk management partnerships. Although the Bill is not yet law, the government is urging upper-tier authorities to progress formation of these partnerships immediately. Because upper-tier authorities generally have little knowledge and experience of flood risk management outside highway flooding many are struggling to get to grips with their new responsibilities. They need a forum through which to share information, experience and best practice. The LGA is developing a FRM checklist and a basic guide to FRM for its website and has asked the TAG C&FM committee for assistance with this project. The LGA has also indicated that it may be willing to create a ‘flood risk’ special interest group - see below.

Surface Water Management Plans Six local authorities are piloting DEFRA’s Surface Water Management Plan Technical Guidance. Three of these will be reporting at the WaPUG conference in Blackpool in November. Early indications are that setting up a representative steering group of committed bodies, including community groups, is proving that it is very time consuming, but is absolutely necessary for a credible outcome. Also, that £50k is not enough for a full study and the DEFRA timescale is too short. On 18 August, DEFRA announced the allocation of £9.7m to 77 local authorities to develop SWMPs in the areas considered to be at highest risk. Other local authorities can bid for a further £5m of funding for early actions. £1m has also been made available for capacity and skills building. ACTION: TAG Coastal & Fluvial Management Committee b) Transportation Committee The TAG President reported that the Transportation Committee met on 18 September 2009. They had a presentation by Roy Newton Greater Manchester LTP Unit about delivering a workable strategy after the congestion charge, which provided a fascinating insight into problems faced in Manchester. Martin will pass the presentation to the Secretary for circulation. The President had attended a recent seminar where he thought that there was a lack of interest in pedestrians. In Westminster, there are 1 million pedestrians per day and this affects highway work and the equipment that can be used effectively. He will send details to the Secretary for circulation. The DoT is consulting on temporary pedestrian traffic signals at pedestrian crossings as part of the Traffic Signal Review, but there is not yet an agreed specification. However, these have been used successfully in the EU and should make a big difference to pedestrian safety when used in the UK. Martin said that he was disappointed with the low attendance at the committee meeting and suggested that by developing video conferencing more people would be able to access the wealth of useful information generated at such meetings. Alan Hayes said that Mike Crimes is the ICE contact for video links. ACTION: TAG President 5) WORK OF TAG TOPIC GROUPS a) Highway Procurement - Steve Keetley b) Climate Change - Mick Murphy The TAG President asked Steve and Mick to provide a written report on their respective topics for circulation, to keep the TAG membership up to date. ACTION: Steve Keetley and Mick Murphy c) Waste - Tim Walker Tim had recently been interviewed by the Surveyor about how to improve recycling facilities. Hopefully, his comments will be in the magazine soon. Tim felt that waste can be a useful foundation discussion for many green issues and will be pleased to hear from TAG members on this subject.

3 6) HOT DISCUSSION ISSUES Exchange of information or discussions relevant to TAG members a) Dominic Vella, Management Traffic Unit, Network Infrastructure Directorate, Malta Transport Authority Basically, Dominic was looking for an exchange to work in the UK for a period of time, where he can learn and understand how Traffic Management in Urban, Arterial and Main roads is planned. This has to be orientated to TM which is on a temporary basis i.e. where road interventions need to be carried out. Any authority interested in helping Dominic should let the TAG Secretary know. ACTION: TAG Members b) Appointment of the Government Chief Construction Advisor The Secretary reported that the CIC had worked hard to get the Government to increase its focus on the construction industry. The new position of Chief Construction Adviser gives us all a key opportunity to move construction up the clients’ agenda and make them more effective in their interaction with the industry to everyone’s benefit. We all need the best person possible for this position. A discussion ensued and it was felt that the government seem to think that construction can come and go, but it is here all the time. Several points were then made regarding construction:- Need a planned approach to construction Raise consistency in procurement practice Scoping of long-term service commitment is necessary Maximise how to tap into innovative practices around the UK Determine how best to support the Community Encourage young people into the industry with diversity of skills opportunities c) Flood Risk Management Special Interest Group Doug Wright reported that in the wake of the 2007 summer floods, Gloucestershire CC set-up a Local Government Flood Forum, which proved very useful in making progress on the Pitt Review and the Floods and Water Bill. However, its financing is time-limited so there is a need for a longer- term network to capture the good work done by the LGFF and provide support for LAs faced with the challenge of lead FRM roles. To provide an appropriate forum, the LGA is prepared to establish a Flood Risk Management Special Interest Group, if 10 or more LAs are prepared sign a joint letter to the LGA suggesting that they set up such a SIG. Richard Belfield from Lincolnshire CC is collecting expressions of interest and has received at least 10. He will be sending a letter on behalf of these authorities to the LGA Chief Executive requesting that LGA consider their request to set up a FRM SIG. On receipt of this request, the CE may ask for more information but will probably send it to the LGA Executive (which meets monthly) to consider. This should all take place in the next month or two and there will then be a decision on whether to support the SIG. This will be a members group, but they could have an officer group to support it. If there is a need for an officers group, then TAG should get involved with it and the TAG Coastal Committee would be well placed to form such an officer group and forge closer links with the LGA. There would be two roles for TAG:- guidance as professionals and to keep the LGA informed of political views. Vanessa Goodchild-Bradley is the LGA contact who is very supportive of such a group.

7) REGIONAL COMMITTEES Action from around the TAG Regions a) TAG NI - Tim Walker Tim had recently circulated the minutes of the last TAG NI meeting held on 6 August and their next meeting will be on 9 October 2009. They have had some good presentations in the past and will continue to organise suitable presentations in the future. TAG NI is providing advice to NILGA and the arrangement is progressing well. Two representatives on LARAC have good links with TAG NI.

4 The local authorities in NI are currently under review and will be reducing from 28 authorities down to about 11 authorities. Most TAG members are currently involved with transitional teams. b) LoTAG - Joe Weiss / Mick Stone Mick stone was unable to attend at the last minutes but had circulated a written report. LoTAG Infrastructure (Group 2), Transport (Group 1) and Highway Maintenance groups all met since the last Council meeting. Each was well attended as usual, 22 boroughs at Group 2, with 20 at Group 1 and all sectors represented at the Highway Maintenance Steering Group ( HMSG). Group 1 - topics discussed included:  Presentation on bus service changes  TfL/Boroughs working arrangements  LIP Process review board  New national road safety targets  Thanks to Gareth Davies, past chair of Group 1 for his contribution to LoTAG. Group 2 - included  Presentations on innovative access covers & gratings, LB Newham Engineering Services Contract and the Reuse of Streetscape Materials  ROAD2000 seminar, this year organised by TfL on 17th November at Novotel Hammersmith  Winter Maintenance Project Board for London wide standards and co-operation  Short presentation from David Yeoell of Westminster on LoTAM asset management with emphasis on Lighting HMSG  Trials & Research, trials of LEDS & photocells. Updated spreadsheet for trials on website.  ROAD2000 (road condition surveys) groundwork surveys start in September all SCRIM surveys complete. 24 Borough B&C road surveys completed.  The street lighting group continues with benchmarking on energy costs and is proposing to target staffing. The LoTAG/EDF liaison group is going well sharing information.  The group has been working on various collaborative projects o London wide asphalt specification o Skid resistance policy o Health & Safety and CDM training o Asset management o Winter Service and o Materials exchange

An issue that has caused concern to some of London’s Boroughs in recent weeks has been the appearance of unauthorised telephone kiosks that do not seem to have equipment installed, but do have lots of advertising space. TfL will be coordinating a register of these kiosks installed by Infolines and will be liaising on behalf of the boroughs with Offcom.

The TAG President said that the government had given London £1m for asset management and he wondered how TAG Regions had taken this forward? He agreed to chase the TAG Regions.

Full details of all the groups activities are on the LoTAG diary pages on the LoTAG website at www.lotag.com or through the TAG website at www.tagonline.co.uk under ‘links’. ACTION: TAG President c) Verbal Reports from Regional representatives TAG NE Region – Andy Morris Andy had submitted a written report prior to the TAG Council meeting.

5 The last TAG NE Regional meeting took place in July and was attended by 20 members or prospective members form a range of authorities and the private sector. The venue was Sunderland City Centre in the old Wear Commissioners Board room, which is a very grand setting. Thanks to Bob Donaldson and Sunderland City Council for hosting the event. The topic for the event was Regional Transport Funding with views expressed and presentations given by the government Office for the North East (GONE), The Regional Assembly and the Regional development Agency, One North East. Unfortunately, the GONE could not be represented which gives a bit of an indication as to how thin on the ground the Office is and officers have a lot of demands placed on them. Dave Marshal from the Regional Assembly gave an overview of the Interim Regional Transport Board, the RFA and RFA 2 processes. Mark Wilson from ONE then went on to provide information on the role of the DASTS programme. There was a lively and informed debate and all attendees got a lot out of the morning.

Andy informed TAG Council that the next meeting will be on 16 October 2009 in Hartlepool, when John Elliott would be giving a presentation on Parking Strategies and it was hoped that the TAG President would also attend. ACTION: TAG President 8) WORK OF OTHER ORGANISATIONS Liaison with other organisations a) Municipal Expert Panel – Alan Hayes Alan gave the TAG Council an overview of the work of the Municipal Expert Panel (MEP) and its role within the ICE. A TAG Blog has already been circulated about the MEP. Mike said that the MEP is made up of 12 members who represent the ICE Regions and is part of the ICE. The ICE/MEP has specific Strategic Aims, which for 2009 are; ‘Skills and Capacity’, ‘Codes, Standards and Key Legislative Drivers’ and ‘Meeting Human Needs’. The MEP’s supports these themes through a programme of activities that addresses them in the Municipal Engineering context of services delivered at a local level to local communities. Their role is to spread local government best practice throughout the ICE membership. He then invited the TAG President to attend a future meeting of the MEP. Alan is currently looking for MEP members from the NI, SW, NW and NE regions to be on the panel. Any TAG members who would like to be on the MEP should contact Alan Hayes on [email protected] and he will send them the necessary forms. Alan was pleased with the synergy between the MEP and TAG and wished to see the liaison between both organisations strengthen and grow. The TAG Secretary and Alan would put each other on their respective emailing lists. ACTION: Alan Hayes, TAG Secretary and TAG Members b) CJC - Mick Murphy No report. c) CIC – TAG Secretary The TAG Secretary regularly passes on information from CIC to the Presidential Team via email. d) Others - CSS, PSnet, LARAC, IHT, LGA, SOLACE IHT / HA The TAG President recently attended the IHT Road Safety Working Panel. The Driving Standards Agency also attended and reported that some road signs are not understood by new drivers. They are currently reviewing signs and advice on crossing carriageways. A lot is also happening with the Highways Agency regarding guidance for roadworking signs, as Chapter 8 is not always workable in an urban area.

6 SOLACE The SOLACE Conference in Brighton has recently been advertised . The TAG Secretary was asked to circulate the information to the TAG membership again. The TAG President asked whether any TAG members attended and could provide feedback to TAG. The Secretary was asked to see if David Thomas would be attending. ACTION: TAG Secretary

9) REPORTS BY PRESIDENTIAL TEAM a) President - President’s Diary - Martin Low Martin is currently finalising his TAG diary of appointments and visits. b) Immediate Past President – Bob Donaldson Bob said that it had been a quiet summer but that he had managed to get an article in the Surveyor magazine. He would like TAG to be more proactive and for TAG to determine what they should write and then feed it to the Surveyor. Most TAG members could write 150 words on a newsworthy topic. The Surveyor has a forward feature list and the TAG PRO was asked to obtain a copy. The TAG President said that he would contact the Westminster Communications Team for suitable articles. ACTION: TAG President & TAG PRO c) Senior Vice President – Tim Walker Tim will liaise with Roy regarding the TAG AGM and TAG Presidents Workshop next year in Belfast NI. ACTION: Tim Walker and TAG Secretary d) Junior Vice President – Satbir Gill No report.

10) REPORTS OF THE TAG OFFICERS a) General Secretary – Roy Fairclough i) Correspondence The Secretary circulated around TAG Council a SOLACE booklet on ‘Contemporary Social Evils’. Since the last TAG Council meeting, the Secretary had circulated an average of 35 emails of information per month to TAG members. ii) TAG Membership TAG Council approved membership of TAG for William Batey, Northumberland CC, Martin Pyne, AECOM and Mark Allan, Ex TfL. iii) TAG Blogs The Secretary read out the TAG Blog list as follows:- Sept 09 M Stone Oct 09 D Thomson Nov 09 M Murphy Dec 09 P Moore Jan 10 S Gill The TAG President said that he would also write an additional blog next month. Alan Hayes said that he would ask Neil Buchanan to write a blog on the recent IFME Conference he recently attended in Melbourne. It was agreed that the TAG Blogs should have a high profile on the TAG website. ACTION: TAG Blog List b) Honorary Treasurer - Jim Kinchesh i) Financial Reports

7 Jim circulated his reports at the meeting. The current financial position is a surplus of £11,472, which is due to the receipt of the majority of the subscriptions due for the year but with less than half of the yearly expenditure incurred. The projected outturn is still a deficit of around £5000 at the worst-case scenario. However, Jim will chase outstanding subscriptions, which should improve this position. He was asked to circulate the list of those authorities who had not paid their subscriptions to the TAG President. The TAG Regional accounts are now almost sorted out. Jim has just sent off the accounts for the last two years to be audited by the TAG Auditor. ACTION: TAG Treasurer c) PRO & Webmaster – John Elliott i) PRO Report John had submitted a report as per Appendix No 2 of the Agenda and he is steadily working through his priority list. The TAG President said that he would arrange for assistance for John regarding the updating of the TAG email circulation lists. Jim Kinchesh has the current circulation list. The TAG website has already been discussed under item 3a). ACTION: TAG President & TAG PRO

11) MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING a) Minutes of TAG Council meeting held on Friday 15 July 2009 were approved. b) Matters arising from the minutes not covered by this Agenda. 3a)iii) TAG Regions The President is reviewing the TAG Regional structure. 5a) Highway Procurement The TAG President requested a report for the next TAG Council. 5b) Climate Change The TAG President requested a report for the next TAG Council. 8d) IHT John Elliott is still to set up a meeting with IHT. TAG Exceptional Service Awards The TAG President is still to arrange the presentation of the tankards to the recipients of the TAG Exceptional Service Awards.

12) ANY OTHER BUSINESS The TAG President announced that Phil Moore would shortly be standing down as the Chairman of the TAG Transportation Committee. He was hopeful that Chris Martin would become Chair, Chris Lines, Vice Chair and Chris Feltham Junior Vice Chair.

The TAG Secretary said that he had recently circulated to TAG members the updated version of TAG personnel for 2009/10. Alan Hayes asked for a copy.

13) DATES OF FUTURE MEETINGS Future TAG Council meetings for 2009/10 were agreed as follows:- 4 December 2009 –Belfast, NI commencing at 10 am 5 March 2010 – Video-conference 16 July 2010 – Jacobs Office – London 24 September 2010 – Alan Hayes to arrange venue. 3 December 2010 – Venue to be arranged 19/20 May 2010 – TAG AGM & TAG Presidential Workshop – Belfast NI

Roy Fairclough, TAG National Secretary 6 October 2009