Transport, Environment and Infrastructure

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London Councils works with and for its member boroughs on a range of transport, environment and infrastructure challenges faced by the capital. London Councils’ work in this area is governed by its Transport and Environment Committee (TEC), a statutory committee of councillors from the 32 London boroughs and the City of London. In 2015/16, this we:

  • Agreed Joint Working Arrangements between TEC and Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (TRFCC) and approved levy increase.
  • Set Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) levels for anti-social spitting and urinating etc in public, noise in public, feeding birds in public spaces; and Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) levels for illegal builders’ skips. For clarity, we published a comprehensive FPN/PCN table on our public website.
  • Worked with TfL to develop a Car Club Strategy for London.
  • Made the case for increased resource and capacity for flood management.
  • Provided legal advice to boroughs on EU infraction through the London Air Quality Steering Group.
  • Opposed TfL’s proposal to replace the 10 year age limit for taxis with a voluntary decommissioning scheme for taxis between 10 and 15 years-old.
  • Developed closer working with LEDNET through a new officer post established within London Councils and through a joint response to London Assembly investigation on environmental pressures of growth.
  • Commissioned polling of Londoners’ attitudes to infrastructure on London and how it should be funded – and hosting a successful member and officer event on Opportunity Areas and their infrastructure needs.  London Councils first infographic ‘London Needs’ (November 2015).
  • Established a working group with TfL and borough reps to influence TfL’s decision regarding the process for LIP funding in 2017/18 and 2018/19.
  • Jointly, with London Travel Watch and Trust for London, commissioning and publicising research into the travel costs of outer London commuters. The final report ‘Living on the Edge’ achieved wide media coverage.
  • Made successful representations to the London Assembly Transport Committee on boroughs’ concerns about rail devolution (impact on Freedom Pass costs and the need to involve boroughs in franchising decisions).
  • Submitted a successful OLEV bid with TfL and GLA and receiving £13 million in OLEV funding as a result.
  • Made the case for increased borough input into rail franchises that has been reflected in the DfT / TfL rail prospectus launched in January 2016.

We have represented borough views on a wide range of consultations and reviews in the past year, including:

  • The London Assembly investigation on solar power in London
  • TfL night bus consultation response
  • Crossrail 2 Growth Commission consultation (and gave oral evidence)
  • TfL Crossrail 2 Consultation (January 2016)
  • TfL Private Hire Regulations Review
  • The National Infrastructure Commission call for evidence
  • The Mayor’s London Local Air Quality Management proposals (borough concerns discussed with the GLA prior to the consultation led to changes with outstanding borough concerns reflected in London Councils consultation response.
  • TfL consultation on ULEZ; this resulted in positive outcomes with TfL announcing that a further 400 Euro V buses outside central London would be retrofitted to meet the Euro VI standard, which responded to one of our key ULEZ lobbying points. TfL has also started work to consider the expansion of the ULEZ, following our lobbying and boroughs have been invited to be part of an engagement group. TfL has kept boroughs engaged in the process of considering options for expanding the ULEZ, which included an update to TEC (December 2015)
  • We also submitted a response to the Energy and Climate Change Committee’s call for priorities for scrutiny, suggesting the scrapping of zero carbon homes and Green Deal without replacement, the Climate Change Levy, changes to FiT, changes to VED and the roll out of smart meters (August 2015)