Police and Crime Committee

Today I attended my first meeting of the relatively new police and crime committee. Initially I had agreed to stand in for Victoria Borwick who was at a funeral but on Tuesday I had a surprise visit from the group leader - he asked me to take the committee place permanently as Conservative spokesman on policing, following Steve O'Connell's appointment as an advisor to the Deputy Mayor.

The committee has been fractious in the past, with confrontation between the members and Stephen Greenhalgh, the combative Deputy Mayor for Policing. Today Stephen was accompanied by Deputy Commissioner Craig Mackey and the tone was more positive.


Management Reorganisation

With £500 million savings required from the budget, senior management was being reduced, also allowing more investment in the front line. The witnesses refused to rule out the possibility that some boroughs would be combined under single management and the borough commanders would have to share some of their back office functions. At present borough commanders hold the rank of chief superintendent (except in Lambeth and Westminster where they are full commanders), but in future this might not be the case.

I urged the Deputy Mayor to preserve geographical structures below the borough commanders rather than opt for functional 'silos' which would endanger the excellent partnership work being shared by councils and other public services at borough level. By all means we should seek to save money but take care to preserve the strengths which flow from local links.


Estates Strategy

The property review was expected to cut the MPS estate by around a third, saving at least £50 million and providing an opportunity to relocate services to better sites. However confused messages are raising fears in communities around the city.

I told the witnesses that the closure of Wanstead police station in 2001 had to be reversed because crime spiked by over 20%. Surely they wanted to avoid such costly reversals of decisions this time. They refused to comment on Wanstead in particular but the Deputy Mayor said that no front counters would be closed without his agreement - and he hadn't signed any off. The Estates Strategy would be published and would be subject to consultation, which should be very welcome news for campaigners.

The witnesses agreed with me that response times and the distance between front counters would be key criteria in the review - not just the number of people currently visiting. Counters which were closed would be replaced like for like - a key commitment which had been in some doubt. And the possibility of using volunteers to staff front counters would be considered, particularly in the light of the great volunteering spirit engendered by the 2012 Games.

As part of the review MOPAC HQ in Westminster will be closed with 65 staff transferring to City Hall and reporting to the Deputy Mayor.


Vetting and Supervision

The recent cases involving PC Simon Harwood who assaulted Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protests, and an officer in the specialist Sapphire rape unit who had falsified police records, raised concerns about vetting of police officers and their supervision.

The Deputy Commissioner assured us that systems had been improved and lessons learned. An officer with Harwood's record of complaints of violence would now be spotted more swiftly with appropriate action taken. Management changes at Sapphire should reassure victims that their cases would be effectively investigated.

Jenny Jones raised the question of supervising undercover officers who often had to make tough decisions in life threatening circumstances. The witnesses said it would not be acceptable for an undercover officer to commit or participate in a crime. Also, they should seek permission before taking part in sexual relationships with suspects or others in their undercover role. Jenny wondered if children from such liaisons would become the police's responsibility - the Deputy Commissioner considered this highly unlikely.


Gang Strategy

The anti - gangs strategy had targeted 1,500 gang members, severely hampering their activity and reducing the number of stabbings and shootings. The witnesses appealed for more diversionary initiatives to steer young people away from gang culture along with better employment opportunities. Although out of the headlines recently, gangs remained a high priority for Scotland Yard.

Wanstead Police Protest

On Friday evening I attended a special meeting of Redbridge Council's Area 1 Committee which covers the wards of Wanstead and Snaresbrook in the West part of the borough. Chaired by Cllr Chris Cummins, the meeting was called to discuss plans to close Wanstead Police Station which had featured on the front page of the Wanstead and Woodford Guardian.

The deputy borough police commander assured a packed room that no decisions had been taken, however with a £500 million gap in their budget the Met Police had to consider all options and amongst these was a review of their property requirements.

There was widespread local concern, not least because this is not the first threat to the police station. The building was closed in late 2001 but reopened in 2003 after a successful campaign led by local councillor Allan Burgess. During the closure period residents endured a 23% increase in crime in the area.

This time residents are better prepared and there are two petitions opposing the closure, each with over 1,000 signatures. Local councillors and MP John Cryer are united in their opposition and the future of police stations in the borough is due to be debated at a Redbridge Council meeting on 20th October. I have agreed to present the petitions to the Mayor who is ultimately responsible for any decision.

Because closure will lead to poorer response times, loss of public access and removal of a deterrent to crime in the area, I hope that local people and politicians of all parties will be able to speak with one voice against this ill judged plan.

Elm Park - The Future

This morning I dropped into the Town Hall to look at the plans to improve traffic flow in Elm Park. The Broadway north of the station is particularly prone to congestion caused by unloading retail goods and buses picking up passengers. A grant of £60,000 from TfL is to be used to eliminate these problems.

Most contentious will be the introduction of parking bays with pay and display machines. The pricing regime is designed to keep parking turning over and prevent commuters taking up the space. One hour's parking will be a very inexpensive 20p, but this will rise to £1.40 for up to ninety minutes and £2.00 for the maximum allowed time of two hours. The restrictions will be in force from 8:30am to 6:30pm Mondays to Saturday with free parking on a Sunday.

There will also be designated free loading spaces where no charge will apply in the first 20 minutes, as well as a 'kiss and ride' bay south of the station for drivers to drop off and collect rail passengers with very limited free waiting time.

Existing disc parking places outside 33 to 42 The Broadway will be removed.

Three or four new cycle parking racks will be added. The lay bys will be set further back from the road, reducing interference with the flow of traffic.

The plans are open to consultation and can be viewed at Mercury House in Romford with all representations requested before 12th October. Final decision will be made by the Highways Committee later in October.

ESEL Launch

On Tuesday afternoon I attended the House of Commons for the launch of the East and South East London Transport Partnership. Providing a forum for London Boroughs and the business community, the group will agree priorities and lobby for transport funding in our area.

Parliament has more than its share of MPs who believe that London gets too much support and funding should be diverted to Scotland and The North, so the capital needs well informed people to make its case. This is made all the more necessary by the departure of London based ministers from the DfT with key transport infrastucture such as Crossrail 2 still not funded. With most of London's population growth expected in the East, investment in transport infrastructure is a priority for all political parties.

The launch was chaired by Lee Scott MP - newly promoted PPS to Chris Grayling at Justice - and speakers included Labour MP Jim Fitzpatrick, Howard Dawber from the Canary Wharf Group and of course myself, representing the Mayor and Assembly.

Transport Committee

Yesterday saw the Transport Committee reconvene at City Hall after a summer which has seriously tested the city's transport network.

THE  GAMES

Peter Hendy updated us on performance during the Games. Many records for passenger numbers had been broken. On 7th August the Tube carried a record 4.57 million passengers. On 3rd August the DLR carried over 500,000 passengers for the first time. The Cable Car has now lifted more than a million people across the river, providing stunning views of London on the way.

In contrast, road traffic was down by 15% during the Games. 23,000 warning notices were issued to motorists who strayed into the Olympic Route Network lanes but they weren't fined, however fines were issued where direction signs and parking restrictions were deliberately flouted and there were 6,473 such cases.

3,000 IPADs had been issued to staff on station platforms to give them real time information when dealing with questions from passengers. At 16 stations portable ramps were in use to enable wheelchair access and these would be retained subject to the availability of staff to operate them.

Committee members congratulated Peter Hendy on TfL's gold medal performance.


AIRPORT  CAPACITY

With the expansion of Heathrow back on the table, the chair announced an Assembly led review of airport capacity which would be run by the transport committee with input from the environment and economy committees. Along with government and mayoral investigations, reviews are landing thick and fast...


CYCLING

The committee continued its investigation into cycling in London, taking some interesting evidence from Dutch and Swedish experts. Cycling rates are much higher in their cities and we are looking at solutions which can transfer easily to London's busier and narrower streets. The Freight Transport Association gave us their take on measures to improve HGV safety standards, including mirrors, detection devices and training for drivers.

Ben Plowden from TfL updated us on their latest ideas and I was pleased when he promised that Cycle Superhighway 2 would be extended from Stratford to Ilford in the coming 12 months, thus bringing safer cycle commuting to Ilford. Newham Council had opposed the extension because of interference with the Games, but with the Olympics out of the way their opposition will be dropped and nothing will stand in the way of CS2.

UPDATE - Ben Plowden has been in touch to say that CS2 will only be extended as far as Stratford this year. Looks like Redbridge will have to continue to wait...

Buster Challenge Quiz

On Friday I joined Romford Young Conservatives for their Buster Challenge Quiz Night. Named after Buster, Andrew Rosindell's dog and election mascot, the contest usually attracts stiff competition and this time was no exception.

I was the guest quiz master for the night, which included a two course meal, wine and as always, a raffle. The close race was won by the Terriers who narrowly beat the Chairman's Table. They are pictured with the trophy which they get to keep for a year, and YC chairman Josh Chapman.

Transport Reshuffle

On the whole I am pleased with the reshuffle so far. It is good to see talented individuals like Chris Grayling and Maria Miller rewarded with seats around the Cabinet table, however the news coming out of DfT is worrying - at least so far...

Boris has already seized upon the removal of Transport Secretary Justine Greening and her Minister of State Theresa Villiers as evidence that the government is about to U-turn on its commitment to oppose a third runway at Heathrow. They were both strongly opposed to the project as is the Mayor, but nobody in London can have missed the recent public lobbying in favour by business and the aviation industry. The new ministers represent seats outside London so their stance on Heathrow may be more flexible and less affected by constituency concerns. Boris is promising to make a robust stand against 'mad' plans to resurrect the Third Runway.

At Westminster transport is not seen as a big deal. Traditionally the Secretaries of State are young ministers on their way up and they don't expect to stay long - under Labour their tenures were also short. But in London government, transport is one of our greatest challenges, along with policing. Having ministers with constituencies in London gives the Mayor a great advantage, not just when dealing with Heathrow, but when arguing for any transport improvements. When Boris makes the case for Crossrail and the Tube renewal programme, he knows that he is making it to informed and receptive politicians with half an eye on their voters.

Some years ago I gave evidence to the House of Commons Transport Select Committee. We were talking about the collapse of Metronet, but it quickly became clear that some of the MPs from Scotland and The North were more keen on proving that London was getting more than its share of transport investment. There was clearly some prejudice against the Capital and I fear that it still persists in Parliament.

We have yet to see the most junior appointments to the Department for Transport and I hope that Londoners will be included at some point, otherwise fighting our corner could prove more difficult in future.

UPDATE: Whilst I was out at the gym Stephen Hammond, MP for Wimbledon has been appointed to transport as a junior minister, so London still has a voice, albeit much reduced...

Brooklands Action Day

September is with us and it's back to campaigning. On Saturday I joined Romford MP Andrew Rosindell and local activists for an action day delivering newsletters and meeting residents in Brooklands Ward. The weather was fine and people we met were positive, whilst understanding the difficulties facing the government and the necessity of unpopular decisions.

This was the first in a series of Romford campaign days which will cover the whole of the constituency, so a busy autumn lies ahead...

Return to the Forbidden Planet

On Thursday evening I joined a packed out audience for the opening night of Return to the Forbidden Planet at the Queen's Theatre Hornchurch.

Written by artistic director Bob Carlton, Forbidden Planet presents an eighties take on the classic fifties sci-fi film. Now thirty years old, the play toured nationally in 1989 and was last at the Queen's in 2001. It features many well known - and some obscure - lines from Shakespeare, combined with sixties music hits including 'Teenager in Love' and 'Great Balls of Fire'. The audience joined in enthusiastically with many of the most famous hits.

this play really challenges its star performers, requiring them to play music as well as act. Thus the ship's cook - played by Queen's newcomer Mark Newnham - is transformed into a rock guitarist in one scene and everyone displays multiple talents as the show develops. Playing a saxophone is challenging enough but doing so whilst carrying an attractive young lady, balancing on roller skates and pretending to be a robot is well beyond standard expectations - so hats off to Frederick "Frido" Ruth who plays Ariel.

There is even an on screen appearance from Richard O'Brien who starred in Flash Gordon and fronted up the Crystal Maze TV show, although his dark glasses initially make him familiar but difficult to recognise.

It is well worth spending an evening with Captain Tempest and the crew of  the Intergalactic Starship Albatross. Tickets are available from www.Queens-Theatre.co.uk .

Saint Francis Hospice

Last week I visited St Francis Hospice to meet Pam Court and her team for a tour of their facilities.

The hospice is in a lovely location just off the village green at Havering-atte-Bower. Their motto is 'Living with dignity' and they provide a valuable service to residents of Havering, Redbridge, Barking & Dagenham and Brentwood. However whilst the location is restful and pleasant, there are access problems with an infrequent bus service which doesn't run at all on Sundays - and even this service was in danger until Boris intervened with TfL four years ago.

My visit started with the day hospice which provides facilities for outpatients to receive treatment and to socialise with various activities. They have a nice line in scarf painting and customising Christmas decorations which are kindly donated by B & Q. Lunch is also provided. There is space for up to sixteen patients per day.

The Inpatient Unit was recently redecorated and has both single and shared rooms, offering families the option of staying for longer with loved ones. The rooms have patio doors which were opened to take full advantage of the warm weather when I visited. I spoke to several of the patients and they all had high praise for the care they were receiving. If anything some felt that they received more attention than they needed and the high ratio of nurses to patients was something they had not encountered elsewhere.

The visit was rounded off with the new Pepperell Education Centre, a facility that provides training and experience for doctors and nurses including communication training for GPs. Dealing with death is uncomfortable for many people - myself included - and the centre provides information that is difficult to get elsewhere.

I was very impressed by the dedication of the Hospice staff and the way that the patients clearly valued the service. The majority of staff are in fact volunteers - students getting experience, drivers, workers in the network of fund raising shops, even the photographer who took over 60 pictures during my visit. Boris and the Government are keen to encourage volunteering and I have never seen a better example than this.

Last year's Havering Mayor Melvin Wallace, made the Hospice one of his appeal charities and he raised enough to pay for a new mini bus which bears his name. A few years ago I decided to make a regular donation to the hospice to support their activities and I urge everyone to contribute. Details of the work they do and the support they need can be found on their website, www.sfh.org.uk .

Hanging by a Thread

This morning I took a trip on London's newest form of public transport - the cable car. Fine weather afforded some great views of East London and the river, so I took plenty of pictures:

The cars are smaller than I expected, each with room for up to eight passengers - no on board trolley service here. The initial climb to 295ft is steep on the Greenwich side and it does feel very high up. The cars seem to be travelling slowly though they approach quite fast from the opposite direction so the speed is deceptive. An on board voice orders you to remain seated and informs you that your actions are being filmed by CCTV - any misbehaviour would need to be completed quickly as the whole crossing takes no more than ten minutes.

At the North side the descent is gentler with views of water skiers in the dock. Shadows passing overhead and the roar of engines are a reminder that real airlines take off quite close by at City Airport. This Emirates Air Line is well worth the price of a visit although cloudy conditions or high winds might spoil the fun.

Assembly Unites to Oppose A&E Closures in London

You Must Read This!

I have just finished Underground Overground, an informative and easy to read history of the Tube. The author Andrew Martin, sets out to describe the growth of the network from its beginning as a cut and cover steam service to the City and he also shows how the development of new lines led to changes in the capital itself. On the way he finds time to visit the London Transport Museum and the Lost Property Office at Baker Street. The evolution of the Tube map culminating in Harry Beck's iconic design is discussed too.

The Tube originated as a dream of social reformer Charles Pearson who started work on the first cut and cover branch of the Metropolitan Line. Tunneling using shields enabled Brunel to build the first railway tunnel under the river at Wapping, then the smaller Greathead Shield  (Greathead's statue stands outside the Bank of England) led to the many deep level lines, largely funded by American investors who never saw their money back. Frank Pick presided over the network in the early twentieth century, creating the Piccadilly Line and the monster that we know as the Northern Line - which has the longest continuous rail tunnel in the country! Pick also commissioned Charles Holden to design some of the Tube's finest suburban stations. After the war a period of austerity eventually came to an end with the opening of the unambitious Victoria Line, then the even less ambitious Jubilee Line, finally extended at the turn of the century.

The book was a birthday present from my excellent PA Maura. She clearly knows me well because I share some spooky similarities with Andrew Martin. we are both immigrants, Martin having grown up in York and myself in Cleveland, a short distance away. We are both children of the sixties and arrived in London at a similar time, both starting our adventures in Leytonstone. We were both educated at the Inns of Court School of Law, although neither of us practise as barristers.

You must read this book - it will tell you so much you didn't know about a system that we take for granted because we use it every day.

Number Crunching

Tuesday was very busy with the Budget Committee meeting in the morning, a brief break for lunch, then the Audit Panel meeting in the afternoon. Lots of numbers with everything presided over by Labour Chairman John Biggs.


BUDGET  LATEST

Chief of Staff Sir Edward Lister, appeared at the committee to update us on the challenges faced by the GLA. He agreed that 2012/13 would be a very difficult year with diminishing resources whilst demands continued to grow. He also predicted that the coming four years would be equally, if not more, challenging. All parts of the GLA needed to make savings:

Transport for London £24 million
Metropolitan Police £148 million
London Fire Brigade £29.5 million
GLA HQ £3.7 million

Members felt that TfL could provide greater savings, but these would be retained within the organisation to protect the essential transport upgrades.

I urged Sir Edward to fast track the shared service programme and unlock more of the economies of scale that come with combining functions under the GLA umbrella. I also suggested that we look outside the GLA, seeking opportunities to share administrative functions with local authorities - even reaching out beyond the old GLC boundary which has proved to be an 'Iron Curtain' preventing cross border cooperation in the past.

Sir Edward confirmed that he was concentrating on property rationalisation, facilities management and procurement where the greatest savings were likely to be made. The process of contracting for the required services would focus managers' minds and eliminate bureaucracy and waste.


AFTER  THE  RIOTS

Last month the committee heard from Tottenham MP David Lammy and local traders who told of their problems finding support after the 2011 riots. This time the insurance companies appeared to give their side of the story. David Williams from AXA stated that they had handled 300 claims of which only two had been refused. Whilst they were alert to fraud, the biggest problem was under insurance. For example, one shop had been holding a large quantity of tobacco which was not covered by their policy. Another business sought to claim over £300k on a policy covering £25k.

Representatives from Haringey and Croydon councils claimed that some insurers and loss adjusters had been less helpful. Often they were dealing with people who did not speak English well, so interpreters were required. The complexity of insurance terminology made this situation worse.

They also claimed that loss adjusters had demanded receipts and records from businesses where everything had been burned out. In one case a loss adjuster mislaid the receipts they were given and the claimant had - unwisely perhaps - failed to keep copies.

The insurers stated that premiums would not increase for the affected areas as the level of risk was not seen to have changed. However the under insurance experienced by many businesses did mean that their costs would go up, steeply in some cases. A new version of the Riot Damages Act was required, but some state involvement was essential as otherwise the risk would be uninsurable.

Given this state of affairs, I asked if insurance products were really suitable for these communities. Costs and risk levels have already led to credit unions providing alternative banking services in some parts of the capital. I suggested it was time for credit unions to consider providing tailored insurance products as well.

Mayor's Questions

Last Wednesday saw the July edition of Mayor's Question Time. With a lot happening in the last couple of weeks, the first hour was taken up with emergency updates so we didn't start the agenda proper until 11:10am, a state of affairs which left my guests mystified as the meeting went seriously off piste...


UPDATES

We started with London Pride. The iconic gay event has run into financial trouble and although Boris has found £100,000 to support it, the march and associated activities will be much curtailed this year. Andrew Boff made a very good point when he said that similar events attracted sponsors to cover their costs in other cities and Boris promised that this approach would be followed in future.

There was anger amongst members over the retirement of the Chief Executive of MOPaC (as we must now call it) and the resignation of her deputy. Opposition members have got their teeth into new deputy mayor for policing Stephen Greenhalgh, and to them this episode was further evidence that he is taking action without considering the consequences. And this time there were consequences, as the Assembly rejected a proposal to allow MOPaC to share the GLA's chief executive until the posts can be filled.

The Barclays rate fixing scandal found its way into questions with other worldly Lib Dem Stephen Knight demanding that their logo be removed from the bike hire scheme. How this over the top action would be paid for or who would make up the sponsorship costs he didn't say, but presumably the long suffering taxpayer would foot the bill. Boris turned the request down flat and urged us not to indulge in an orgy of 'banker bashing'. Steve O'Connell restored some calm by referring to the great number of Londoners employed by Barclays, the vast majority of them blameless in this case. To suggest that Barclays was an unfit sponsor was an insult to those hard working employees.


CABLE CAR

The cable car is now open and Boris commended it to members, some of whom were concerned that it was a tourist attraction rather than a serious transport mode. I remembered my first ride on the DLR in the eighties. The tiny two car train actually stopped on the viaduct where Canary Wharf was to be built whilst a man in blue uniform gave a 'tour guide' over the speakers. From such unpromising beginnings the current railway grew and flourished. In twenty years we might well see the cable car extended to serve other destinations around Docklands and East London.


A12 CLEAN UP

Following my visit to Gants Hill I asked Boris about measures to clean up the TfL roads in the area before the Olympic Torch passes through later this month. He gave me a comprehensive list of measures being taken and promised to provide Olympic bunting for the town centre. As we were speaking the TfL weeders were hard at work and by the evening I'm told the roundabout and central reservations were all neatly trimmed - another job done!


RIOT ROUND UP

With the anniversary of the riots approaching (it seems longer than a year), Steve O'Connell asked Boris to describe the measures put in place by the Met to deal with any further disorder. Boris told us about the extra public order training and the 645 prison sentences imposed by the courts who for once have applied an appropriate degree of severity in sentencing.

I suggested that police elsewhere might learn from Havering where searches at the station and ANPR on approach roads target trouble makers as they enter Romford and make it much easier to track and identify offenders.


Also present in the audience were members of Havering's well regarded Fabian Society, an unusually active and well informed left wing group. Whatever their politics, visitors are always welcome at Question Time.

Good News For Gants Hill

A quick update on the Gants Hill situation.

Send for the Strimmers

This afternoon I visited Gants Hill. The roundabout and central reservations are looking shoddy and overgrown - not a good background for the Olympic Torch which is due to pass through here in July, or for visitors from abroad. Luckily I have a question tabled for Boris at next week's Question Time about the general condition of the A12 during the Games. Meanwhile TfL need to get down here with their strimmers before lions and boa constrictors take up residence in the sprouting jungle...

Armed Forces Day

Yesterday we gathered outside City Hall for a ceremony to sign the Armed Forces Community Covenant and to raise the Armed Forces Day Flag. With music provided by the Band of the Lifeguards, the crowd was addressed by Jennette Arnold, Boris and Brigadier Matthew Lowe the Deputy Commander of London District.

The Covenant commits civil authorities to work with the armed forces to ensure that their members are not disadvantaged when it comes to accessing services. It was signed by the guests and by representatives of the MPS, LFB and TfL, as well as representatives from the Army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force.

Transport Questions

This morning Boris and TfL Commissioner Peter Hendy, appeared before the whole Assembly in a plenary session which dealt with transport issues.


LONDON UNDERGROUND

Caroline Pidgeon asked if Boris was concerned about London Underground's recent performance. He replied that new measures being taken to respond to breakdowns would hugely reduce delays. Most disruption was within London Underground's control but recently the Central Line was put out of action by a burst water main which flooded the tunnel near Stratford. He had met Thames Water and presented a bill for £250,000, this being the sum which was paid to compensate the passengers.

I asked about disruption around Upminster Depot. Work is under way to expand the site in preparation for new, longer trains but noise is disturbing residents. Peter Hendy agreed to arrange a meeting on site within a week.


BUS STRIKES

Val Shawcross asked about Friday's planned strike over Olympic pay. Boris stated that it was a matter for negotiation between the unions and bus operators, however he was making £8.3 million available from the Olympic Development Authority underspend to make some reward possible. This sum would be withdrawn if strikes took place.

Boris felt that incessant strike ballots were damaging the reputation of the capital. Introducing a law to require greater member participation in strike ballots would eliminate much of the vexatious claims and he was in favour of government action to alter legislation accordingly. London's record was better than Paris, with 17 unions on the network, but worse than New York, where striking is outlawed.

Jennette urged Peter Hendy to get tough on sexual harassment on public transport. She wanted him to consider a public information campaign similar to that used in New York. If it was successful we should consider copying the initiative in London.

Cycling was discussed and Boris agreed that TfL should focus on the large tipper trucks and skip lorries that seemed to be involved in so many accidents - with cyclists coming off worst. He asked which of us cycled to work and got a very tepid response - understandably, as we don't all live in Islington and it's a long way from Romford on a bike.

Finally I asked Boris to intervene to reduce the tolls at the Dartford Crossing - specifically to introduce discounts for my residents to match those enjoyed in Thurrock and Dartford. He said he would raise the proposal at his next meeting with transport ministers...

Ready for the Games

On Monday I joined a group of members for a tour of the Olympic Park. The venues are almost ready for what will be a Summer Like No Other in London. Pictures show the Stadium and inside the Aquatics Centre.