Board of TfL Named

The Mayor has announced the board of transport for London:

Chairman Tim Parker, about whom much has already been written. The mayor sees Parker as 'Agrippa to his Octavian'.

Deputy Chairman Christopher Garnett, formerly chief executive of GNER and a member of the previous TfL board. Good to see someone with practical experience of running a railway occupying this position.

Members:

Kulveer Ranger, the mayor's director of transport policy.

Stephen Norris, who needs no introduction amongst Londoners.

Tony West, former assistant general secretary of ASLEF. The board is clearly going to be a 'big tent'.

Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, yes the Paralympic medal winner joins the board and will be able to raise mobility issues. Her appointment is likely to be the big news story here.

Bob Oddy, representing the LTDA. About time that black cab drivers got a voice on the board.

Steve Wright, representing the private hire taxi trade.

Eva Lindholm, previously on the board, a director of JP Morgan, giving the City a stake in the board.

Keith Williams, chief finance officer for British Airways. Should make for an interesting discussion when the third runway is raised.

Patrick O'Keeffe, deputy regional secretary for Unite, another 'big tent' appointment, on the TfL board since 2004.

Peter Anderson, director of finance for Canary Wharf Group plc.

Judith Hunt, another member of the previous board, a consultant in leadership, equality, race and diversity issues.

Sir Mike Hodgkinson, formerly chairman of the Post Office.

Charles Belcher, formerly Chairman of National Rail Enquiries Ltd.

Daniel Moylan, deputy leader of Kensington and Chelsea. This is a welcome affirmation of the mayor's promise to work more closely with the boroughs.


All in all, an interesting and diverse group. Some of the industry expertise is very welcome, as are the voices for black cab drivers, private hire and the London boroughs. Did we need to keep on quite so many of Livingstone's old appointees? I suppose that some measure of continuity is wise.

Oyster Cards at Romford Station

I've had a go at National Express in the Romford Recorder this week. The story, at www.romfordrecorder.co.uk concerns the lack of facilities for pre paid oyster card users at Romford station. This is an ongoing disgrace which discriminates against Romford residents by denying them access to cheaper oyster 'pay as you go' fares. There are two issues:

First, the main line rail companies refuse to accept oyster pre paid tickets - as opposed to oyster travelcards which are accepted - because they don't want to incur the costs of installing oyster readers at every station. This would require the introduction of ticket barriers at many places, Gidea Park and Harold Wood being good examples, and they are resisting the extra expense. They seem not to realise that the barriers will be a benefit in themselves, restricting access to the platform and improving safety in many places. Livingstone did his best to get a deal and Boris seems to be making progress with some operators, but their foot dragging has to stop.

Second, the ticket barriers at Romford cannot read oyster cards of any type including travelcards. This means that oyster holders have to queue on the stairs to exit the station via a tiny gap where the station staff check the tickets with hand held machines. The staff are great, and long suffering, but the same can't be said of the inspectors who are sometimes drafted in. New barriers have been promised for months but again no progress from National Express.

We all want to stop ticket evasion, but a lot of people who are fined genuinely believe that their oyster pre paid ticket is valid, and after all they have paid their fare so the injustice of a fine is pretty obvious. Better information for travellers at Liverpool Street and Stratford stations would be a good start.

Motor Show Heads East

This year the Motor Show is taking place at Excel in Docklands, and it is well worth a visit. I was there on Thursday, along with my fellow assembly member, Victoria Borwick. there is a strong focus on alternative fuels this year, with electricity, hydrogen cells and hybrid engines all featuring strongly. There is also much satisfaction that the new London regime is more car friendly and recognises that many people need their cars. But it's not just about selling vehicles - TfL and the Department for Transport also have stands providing information about fuel efficiancy and safe driving.

Despite the credit crunch, oil price hikes and fears of climate change, there were plenty of visitors, and some of the exhibits were quite crowded.

Gallows Corner - Further Delays

According to the Romford Recorder, the work at Gallows Corner will now take even longer as TfL have discovered corrosion in the safety railings that prevent cars falling onto the roundabout beneath the flyover. Meanwhile the overpass is going to be opened to traffic in one direction only.

Coincidentally, I am due to receive a briefing from TfL on the work here, some time next week. Let's hope they have some good news.

Visit to GE 19

This morning the transport committee visited the East London Line works at Shoreditch. We wanted an explanation for the incident which took place in May at Bridge GE 19, shown in the picture.

The bridge is a truly immense steel structure which will carry the East London Line over the tracks coming out of Liverpool Street to the new Shoreditch High Street station, then on to the viaduct running north to Dalston. Climbing out of the old line's cutting, the bridge is on a 1:30 slope - steep for a railway.

Investigations are still in process but it appears that having slowly pushed the structure into position over the line, some of the temporary bearings on the East abutment slipped out, causing the whole bridge to drop by around 20mm. This in turn tilted the bridge and materials resting on it toppled off, landing on the railway below where they were struck by a train leaving Liverpool Street.

Things could have been much worse, but London Underground and Network Rail are now working with their contractors to rescue the timetable and the bridge work will be completed on target later this year.

It's The Cid

In today's Guardian columnist Tristram Hunt, urges Labour to let Livingstone go and move on. In a well written piece he notes that:

The raw psephological truth is that Livingstone's rainbow coalition was not enough to keep him in office in 2008. His studious nurturing of a radical, internationalist, urban core saw him lose the vote of the suburbs and white working class. Outside central London, the electoral map was daubed deep blue. And no number of press releases, Today programme phone ins or fringe speaking engagements is going to bring those votes back for Ken.

The real loser is the London Labour party. To win back City Hall, the party needs to rid itself of the Livingstone past and speak afresh to the capitals' needs. But it can't begin to honestly analyse Livingstone's failings and develop new strategies if the former mayor is still dictating the debate.

Tristram makes a good argument, but he is a voice in the wilderness if attitudes at City Hall are anything to go by. Labour members grab scrutiny posts on the grounds that only they can hold a Conservative mayor to account (a tall order given the weakening of Assembly powers at the hands of their own government), yet they also cling on to executive positions in the functional bodies like limpets exposed by the ebbing tide.

Meanwhile the ex mayor returns regularly, the above picture taken at Question Time last week, propped up in the public gallery to give heart to his dismayed followers, much as the leader's corpse was strapped to his horse at the end of the Hollywood epic, El Cid.

Almost two months after the election, Labour don't even understand that they lost, let alone why it happened and what they should do about it.

Boris Saves the Bus

On Tuesday afternoon a delegation from Romford visited City Hall to deliver a petition calling for the retention of the 500 bus service and an improvement to public transport provision in Havering-atte-Bower. Arriva's plans to axe the route would leave the village and St Francis' Hospice without any access to public transport, despite TfL's stated commitment that every Londoner should be within 400 metres of a bus route.

The Mayor received the petition and met with myself, Andrew Rosindell MP, Cllr Michael White and other local councillors. We had a long discussion with several alternatives considered and the result is that TfL have offered to operate a service between Romford Station and Passingford Bridge, which would serve the village.

On its own it is not enough and the service really needs to be more frequent and more reliable, but at least a service will be in place to cover for the 500 when it is withdrawn in July.

Fiesta!

The weather stayed fine for the Elm Park Fiesta on Saturday. The picture shows Cllr Pam Light, the Deputy Mayor of Havering, opening the day's festivities accompanied by local MP James Brokenshire.

I was on hand along with my colleague Cllr David Grantham and parliamentary candidate Simon Jones, so when someone was needed to blow up inflatable palm trees and hand out programmes there was plenty of help available.

The local traders really make an effort with the Fiesta, which attracts a lot of extra business to the shopping centre. This year they produced a calendar and commemorative stamps to mark the occasion.

Still Waiting

On Wednesday I visited St Francis' Hospice in Havering-atte-Bower. the bus stop pictured is their only public transport link and even that one bus service - the 500 operated by Arriva - is soon to cease.

Staff at the hospice and visiting relatives will have no alternative other than to drive. There is also a brand new educational centre at the hospice, which is used by health authorities and medical professionals from around north east London. How will those people travel there?

I was also surprised to see how new the bus shelter in the picture is. Clearly TfL must have failed to foresee the future, installing a shelter and sign so soon before the service will cease. They will remain, a monument to bad planning.

I have a meeting next week with Boris to discuss how bus services can be retained and improved in Havering-atte-Bower. I will also be suggesting that he visits the hospice to see the good work being done there.

London Travelwatch

Conflict yesterday morning when the Labour controlled transport committee voted to sack the chairman of London Travelwatch, Brian Cooke, following comments he made giving his support to Boris during the campaign. A bit over the top - we certainly voted against the decision, and the green member abstained - but Labour, their vision still clouded by a red mist, steamrollered the decision through with support from the Lib Dems.

Meanwhile Travelwatch are advertising places on their board at www.Londontravelwatch.org.uk/vacancies.php . The board represents consumers in London and the Home Counties, but the applications are usually dominated by producer interests and people from inner London. Better representation of outer London would be a very good thing, so why not visit the Travelwatch site and see if you could help.

It's That Bridge Again

Back in January, Liverpool Street Station was closed for two days longer than expected because of work on demolishing a bridge over the line, which ran late. Perhaps there is a jinx - part of the new bridge fell onto the line last night, leading once again to the closure of the station.

Passengers on a fast train leaving the station had a lucky escape when the driver managed to brake in time and keep the train on the tracks. Passengers on other trains were left stranded and eventually walked to safety along the tracks. I just missed the incident, passing through the area on a train into town about thirty minutes before the debris fell. The return journey later in the evening involved taking the Central Line to Newbury Park then the 66 bus to Romford.

The station was closed this morning but the good news is that Liverpool Street is now open again and services are getting back to normal.

UPDATE: Today's Evening Standard report that TfL contractors have been banned from the site by Network Rail until the accident investigation is complete.

Mayor's Answers

Written answers are now available from last week's Question Time. A record of the verbal exchange will soon be cleared by the Assembly Chair:

GANTS HILL STATION

Roger Evans: Can the Mayor ensure that TfL reinstate fortnightly cleaning of Gants Hill Station as a matter of urgency?

Boris Johnson: It is important that station facilities, including the subway, remain at a good standard of cleanliness for the safety, comfort and convenience of users. I will ask TfL to liaise with Redbridge Council to see how they can better work together to improve the conditions at this location. This will include reviewing the frequency of the subway cleansing.

GALLOWS CORNER

Roger Evans: Can the Mayor arrange a TfL briefing on the work currently being done at Gallows Corner and plans for the future?

Boris Johnson: Certainly. TfL will be in touch with your office to arrange a suitable time and date.

MAYBANK ROAD / MULBERRY WAY SUBWAY CCTV

Roger Evans: Can the Mayor instruct TfL to install CCTV cameras in the subway between Maybank Road and Mulberry Way?

Boris Johnson: TfL is aware of the concerns of local people regarding personal security and anti social behaviour and that the London Borough of Redbridge would be content to monitor CCTV cameras provided that TfL secure funding for their installation. I have asked TfL to prepare a business case for CCTV camera provision, to determine the case for funding this issue against competing demands.

Boris Johnson Faces First Question Time

On Wednesday Boris took questions from the London Assembly.

The question time format provides a useful opportunity to raise constituency matters, so I started by asking about the withdrawal of bus route 500 which serves Havering-Atte-Bower. For some years now we have been trying to get TfL to provide a decent bus service to the village, not only for local people, but also for visitors and staff travelling to St Francis' Hospice, including up to 20 day patients. Livingstone's administration always refused to consider providing a service, preferring to focus their efforts on inner London. Boris made a good start by expressing support and agreeing to meet with myself and Romford MP, Andrew Rosindell, to discuss possible solutions, including extending existing bus services to the village.

I also raised the level of cleaning in the Gants Hill subways, and the Mayor has promised to have this reviewed.

Labour members chose to snipe away, with a puerile stunt involving a cycling helmet and detailed questions which no reasonable person would expect to get an answer to without providing notice. Perhaps they were asleep for the last eight years, because they should have remembered that Livingstone never gave a detailed response, and the MQT format allowed him to avoid doing so - clearly they need to go away and rethink their approach, as with so many things...

And former politicians Peter Hulme Cross and Ken Livingstone were in the gallery, the latter looking sour and out of place. The quality of political groupies has declined since April.

Term Limits

I understand that Boris has written to the Government, asking them to impose a two term limit on the Mayor's job. The effect would be to prevent anyone serving longer than eight years in the post. This follows a failed attempt to insert a two term limit in the act which extended the GLA's powers recently.

Term limits are common in America, but are unheard of here, and I have mixed feelings. We showed that in London, it is possible to beat a strong incumbent who supposedly holds all the advantages, so is a limit really needed?

Term limits would have cut Margaret Thatcher's rule short in 1987, and ended Tony Blair's reign in 2005 - would this really have been a good thing?

For my own experience, I did three terms as a Waltham Forest councillor and by the end I was getting a bit stale, I would not have wanted to do four. On the other hand, I'm on my third term at the London Assembly and - thanks to the change of Mayor - it really does feel like a new job.

Now, I do think we should be writing to the Government asking them to end 'proportional representation' for the London elections, but that is a different story...

Term limits - good or bad?

New Brooms at City Hall

SJM asks how things have changed at City Hall. The atmosphere is different:

In the old days silence would fall when Conservative members entered the lift. Conversations ceased, papers were clutched to chests (to avoid a Caroline Flint style leak), backs pressed to walls. As you left the lift on the sixth floor, talking would resume...

Now the staff are more keen to speak to us. Several times people have asked me if I am one of the 'new intake' or the 'old guard', because there are plenty of new faces around. Amongst the existing staff there is relief that Boris has not pursued a scorched earth policy, and quite a number have found interesting new jobs working for him. Meanwhile, we have been bombarded with unsolicited CVs from people who want to work for Boris.

On the Mayor's floor, the new team is taking shape. The Mayor is gathering around him a London version of the Government of All Talents, with imaginative appointments including Ray Lewis and Kate Hoey, along with experienced Tories like Steven Norris. I have been up there more times in the last eight days than I did in the eight years that Livingstone was in charge. Old names above the office doors hark back to the past era, but many of them have gone elsewhere. Some changes are needed - under the old regime the floor was a maze of partitions and barriers (now being removed), and some of the offices were pretty grim, one being more like a lurid pink telephone kiosk than a place of work.

On the seventh floor the remnants of Labour, the Liberals and the Greens have had the mother of all battles over office space (despite having fewer members), however they did get their act together sufficiently to grab all the top Assembly jobs, shutting out the 11 Conservatives and the BNP member. Obviously they feel they can run the Assembly with just 13 members, but the prospects are not good as they tried and failed with 15 members eight years ago. Expect them to come crawling back for help within six months...

The Conservative group occupy the sixth floor once more. With seven new members, there is a lot of enthusiasm and climbing of the learning curve. Richard Barnes is group leader again, I am deputy leader again, and new member Richard Tracey is group whip. There has never been such a large political group at City Hall, so keeping everyone in the loop will be a challenge.

And BNP man Barnbrook has taken up residence in the office formerly used by UKIP (who became 'One London'). He raised a number of challenges at the assembly AGM and clearly sees himself as some sort of enfant terrible. However much we detest his views, he was democratically elected and has a right to play a full part in assembly committees, so we wait to see how he will interpret his role. He supported green member Darren Johnson in his bid to be deputy chair of the assembly...

Last of the Londoner

The Mayor has made good on his election promise and ceased publication of 'The Londoner', Livingstone's supportive propaganda sheet.

This move will save £2.9 million from the City Hall budget and Boris plans to invest £1 million of this in planting new street trees around London. This instead of cutting trees down to make newspapers. Where the trees will go is still to be decided, so any suggestions would be welcome - I will pass them on.

Under the old regime, Transport for London, the Met Police and of course the LDA, were forced to contribute to the cost of producing the Londoner. TfL had to buy three full pages of advertising in every issue. Only the Fire Brigade escaped the 'Londoner Tax' because members of its authority were brave enough to reject Livingstone's edict.

Boris has made a flying start in his first week - long may the new broom continue to sweep clean.

Thank You

The result of the election in Havering & Redbridge was as follows:

Roger Evans Conservative 78,493
Balvinder Saund Labour 35,468
Farrukh Islam Lib Dem 12,443
Lawrence Webb UKIP 12, 203
Ashley Gunstock Green 9,126
Leo Brookes English Democrat 6,487
Paula Warren Christian Peoples Party 5,533
Peter Thorogood Independent 3,450
Carole Vincent Left List 1,473

Giving a conservative majority of 43,025. The large turnout also helped to elect Boris Johnson and gives us a Conservative group on the Assembly of 11 - the largest political group to be elected to City Hall in the GLA's short history.

Can I thank everyone who campaigned for us and everyone who took the time to vote - this was a great result for democracy as well as my party. I return as the member for Havering & Redbridge, an area I am proud to represent, and I will work for all my constituents regardless of their politics, over the coming four years.

Winter Campaigning

We were out this morning, leafletting and meeting residents around Airfield Way in Hornchurch. Despite the unseasonal weather, we covered a lot of ground and got a generally positive response from people who want to see Boris win.

In this picture, I'm accompanied by James Brokenshire, the local MP, as we wait to cross the road. There has been a lot of new development on the east side of Airfield Way and the pedestrian crossings are no longer conveniently located for the people who have moved in. That is why I'm asking Havering Council to consider installing a new crossing in a better location.

Post Office Protest

Yesterday morning I spent several hours protesting outside post office in Woodford Avenue with local councillors. Feelings are strong and only one person refused to sign our petition, which Ilford North MP Lee Scott, intends to present to the government.

Many of the customers were older people who were worried about the extra distance the closure would force them to travel. I also spoke to a local businessman who was concerned about the security of the alternative post offices, and to a Labour supporter who was happy to sign our petition because he agreed with the cause.

Five post offices are slated for closure in Redbridge and there is widespread anger and concern. I worked for the Post Office for ten years back in the eighties when there was often talk of privatisation, but never of implementing cuts as deep as this. I can't understand their psychology, but one of their representatives is coming to see me on Monday, so perhaps they will explain.

And our London 'watchdog', Postwatch has been pretty toothless about this as well. Some of their comments show a resignation to the cuts, rather than a desire to fight for the customers.

Boris in Havering

The neighbourhood police team in Harold Wood are one of the most popular and successful teams in North East London, so it is no surprise that Conservative Mayoral Candidate, Boris Johnson, wanted to meet them and learn about their work.

Here he is pictured with PCSOs on bicycles which were purchased for them by local businesses. Boris heard how they had used their bikes to combat the 'mini moped' nuisance over the summer, chasing rogue drivers across country. Mini mopeds are now a thing of the past in Harold Hill.

Boris also visited the refurbished library and spoke to shoppers, who gave him a very enthuisiastic welcome.

He went on to be interviewed live by community radio station, Link FM and gave a well received speech at a packed dinner.