Agenda item

Transport Strategy Update: Quarter 3 2019/20

Report of the Director of the Built Environment.

Minutes:

The  Committee received a report of the Director of the Built Environment updating Members on Quarter 3 of 2019/20 (October – December 2019) of delivering the City of London Transport Strategy.

 

A Member referred to a matter sent directly to all Members of this Committee regarding a proposal to expand Liverpool Street Station to incorporate an additional five new platforms. He asked that Officers provide the Committee with further information on the proposals. Officers stated that they were currently looking into the details of this matter further and understood that Network Rail had deferred to the Department of Transport for a decision on this. The Member added that he felt that this was something that the City Corporation should take a view on. Other Members agreed that Officers should report back to the Committee with further information on this and how feasible the proposals were.

 

A Member commented on the cycle route Quietway 11 upgrade – a project that was currently reporting a red RAG status. She thanked Officers for the information provided to date on the Queen Street cycle track proposals but requested further information as soon as this was available to feedback to voters. Officers clarified that this had been put on hold as a result of TfL asking the City to revise their designs. It would, however, be revisited next year.

 

Another Member referred to the All Change at Bank project which indicated that a Capital bid decision was expected in January. He therefore requested an update on this matter. Officers confirmed that the project had been through the Capital Bid process and had been allocated approximately £4million to progress through to the next Gateway.

 

The same Member referred to the Last mile delivery hubs project, specifically the noise assessments for the Barbican and Middlesex Street sites. He questioned whether the Barbican site was the service area for the health centre/gym as he felt that there were real practical difficulties with this site. The Officers confirmed that the site in question was adjacent to the Virgin Active Gym.

 

A Member questioned why the City Cluster Vision – Phase 2 project was currently on hold given that there was lots of local support for this. Officers reported that the project had been deferred by the Resources Allocation Sub Committee but that a report would be submitted to the Streets and Walkways Sub Committee later this month seeking to introduce peak time closures at St Mary Axe on an experimental basis. Officers added that they were confident that they could keep the project moving and progress with feasibility studies.

 

A Member requested that an explanation of RAG status be included in future update reports. Officers explained that the RAG status used here differed form the RAG status assigned to corporate risks and that they would ensure greater clarity around this in future reports.

 

A Member referred to the appointment of a team of consultants to develop design proposals for streets and public spaces around Smithfield and stated that he had hoped that this had been done in co-operation with the architects appointed to look at development opportunities for East and West Smithfield.

 

A Member questioned whether it would be possible to provide an overview of milestones achieved in any given quarter as opposed to on an annual basis. Officers stated that, whilst they would be happy to provide this, progress made on a quarterly basis was sometimes not particularly significant. The Member also requested a general update on progress against the Transport Management Plan that Members could report to their Wardmotes which were scheduled to take place next month. Officers undertook to provide Committee members with this information and also stated that they would be happy to attend Wardmotes where possible to speak on transport issues.

 

A Member questioned why some of the seemingly low cost projects such as the Streets Accessibility Programme and Disabled parking bays could not be progressed with greater speed.

 

RESOLVED – That, Members note the report. 

Supporting documents: