Minutes of ETUG AGM and General Meeting held 01 September 2016
Present:
Donald Smith
Linda Miller
Keith Maxwell
Dave Cockle
John Williams
Peter Smith
John Jewson
Ann Bishop-Laggett
Peter Fallart
Stephen Elston
Paul Mandel
Tony Wallis
Philip Ridley
Gillian Henley
John Henley
AGM
The AGM was chaired by John Williams.
1. Welcome and introductions
John summarised the situation over the past year. In early 2015 the ETUG chair Lloyd Tew-Cragg had been taken seriously ill and consequently no meetings had taken place for several months. In September 2015 Tony Wallis convened a meeting of ETUG and reported that while it was hoped that Mr Tew-Cragg would recover he was unlikely to be able to take on his role again in the near future. Mr Wallis also explained that since he had now moved out of the borough it was no longer possible for him to continue as a member of the ETUG executive either. It was therefore necessary for other members of the group to take on these roles. As no-one was willing to take on the role of chair or secretary for the group, four members offered to share the roles: Dave Cockle, John Jewson, John Williams and Linda Miller. As there was no funding for the group, it was not felt necessary to adopt a treasurer role.
The four volunteers had been elected unopposed at that meeting. They had convened three open meetings of ETUG during the year and circulated minutes. Now that the end of the year was approaching it was appropriate to hold a formal AGM in order to confirm and ratify the officer positions.
John noted that the group had done a lot of work in the intervening year and if any new members of the group would like information on that they should email ETUG on to be sent copies of the minutes of the previous meetings.
2. Apologies for absence
No apologies for absence had been received.
3. Minutes of last meeting
The minutes of the last meeting were accepted with correction to spelling of Mr Tony Wallis’s name at two points.
4. Election of officers and committee members
One nomination had been received for the position of Hon Chair, Dave Cockle, nominated by John Williams, seconded by Peter Smith. Elected unopposed.
One nomination had been received for the position of Hon Secretary, Linda Miller, nominated by Dave Cockle, seconded by Don Smith. Elected unopposed.
One nomination had been received for the position of Hon Treasure, John Williams, nominated by Linda Miller, seconded by Keith Maxwell. Elected unopposed.
John Jewson, Phil Ridley and Peter Smith had declared their willingness to stand as committee members and were elected unopposed.
5. Constitution. Dave Cockle explained that the previous constitution had been drafted when the group was operating under very different circumstances and a new constitution, appropriate for the current group and remit, was needed.
The draft proposed constitution had been circulated ahead of the meeting and paper copies were available at the meeting. Comments had been received from Tony Wallis and amendments based on his suggestions were read out and accepted by the group as appropriate. Minor changes to wording under Aims and Meetings were suggested by Paul Mandel and accepted. There was a question regarding establishment of a website and while it was reported that this was in hand it was not felt necessary to add a statement about a website to the constitution as this is part of activities to raise awareness. A query was raised about the need to have a qualified accountant to inspect the accounts. It was confirmed that as the funds are unlikely to be over £100 in any one year this was not required in law. It was also suggested that as well as mentioning older people as one of the ‘special interest groups’ to be engaged with there should also be some attempt to engage with younger people and especially with students who may have particular transport needs. It was agreed that provided these amendments were made the Constitution was agreed and signed off by the group.
At this point John Williams handed over the Chair to Dave Cockle.
General meeting
6. Working group (Lea Valley Rail Options) - Dave Cockle
Dave Cockle and Phil Ridley had established that the Lea Velley line is to have the more alterations. As part of Crossrail there is to be an additional track added from Tottenham Hale to Angel Road, eventually providing a 4 trains/hour service. There are additional plans to have a quadruple track to Broxbourne Junction and for this to interconnect with Crossrail. The group was in favour of taking advantage of this commitment to additional rail provision by lobbying for an additional station at Picketts Lock. Cllr Bond is apparently in favour of this but it will need more lobbying. There is lots of scope for development, especially with Meridian Water on the horizon and with Crossrail providing access to jobs in London in less than half an hour.
Phil Ridley commented that four trains per hour will only be at peak times for the foreseeable future because the new franchise does not require this off peak. However he has been in contact with Michelle Dix to raise the issue. Crossrail is to be delivered by 2033, whereas previously the intended date was 2027. The West Anglia Taskforce has pushed for work on quad tracking to start in 2022 and complete by 2026. Quad tracking will involve running tracks through the Pickets Lock area and there will be a larger catchment group there than elsewhere, and it would create further opportunities for development and jobs. The opportunity is for a direct bus from the station to Ponders End; existing bus connections between Enfield Town and Ponders End are poor.
The footbridge currently goes to Wharf Road and blocks the entrance to the east of the tracks. If it was opened up then the 313 could go from Enfield town to Chingford via Wharf Rd and the train station, serving to better integrate Ponders End into the bus network. Tony Wallis noted that in fact the 191 does do this at the moment.
Rail Futures have put forward an interim proposal for four trains/hour to Brimsdown.
There is a Government initiative that is offering £20 million for new stations. Cllr Bond is also supported a station at Carterhatch Lane (Enfield Highway) with good bus access but poor accessibility to London.
Lea Bridge has just had £5m spent. With Government funding towards a new station at Picketts Lock this would leave a shortfall of £1.5m; TfL would fund half of this so LBE would only have to pay a minimal amount with many benefits arising from the development. PR had spoken to a planning officer at TfL who reported that there was ‘no business case’ for the work, but it was pointed out that this was because no assessment for a business case had been made to date. The challenge is to get a feasibility study in order to inform development of a business case. Rail Futures had funded the Lea Bridge feasibility study and could fund Pickets Lock, if some contributory funding could be obtained from LBE. The feasibility study for Pickets Lock would need to be done by 2021. There is a need to look at safeguarding space for platforms in the interim.
It was suggested that the Olympics Legacy Committee might be able to provide funding for some of this work.
The feasibility study will look at delivery of the station and safeguarding the space for platforms.
Planned frequency for Crossrail 2 is 12 trains/hour.
Action point: DC and PR to discuss taking forward the feasibility study.
7. Working group (Traffic flow) – John Williams
John Williams reported that he had inspected junctions and concurred with Phil Ridley’s analysis reported in the previous meeting. However as the initial inspection had been in August this would need to be repeated when schools and colleges were open again.
7.1 Traffic lights at the junction of Hertford Road and Southbury Road and Nags Head Road and implications of Cycle Enfield plans. Phil Ridley reported on the action that he and John Williams had taken since the last meeting of the group. They had examined traffic flow at the junction of Hertford Road with Southbury Road and Nags Head Road. This had been done in August. Even in the holiday period it had been clear that the buffer lane was too low on Southbury Rd/Hertford Rd junction. PR had taken this up with TfL and had the lights re-phased, resulting in less volume of tail-backs.
7.2 Phil and John commented that they had found that if you do take up such issues directly with TfL they will fix things quickly, as long as it does not require any additional expenditure. A problem was reported on the night of the meeting, it appeared that the Enfield Town lights had been re-phased to give priority to Church St, consequently only five cars were going through per phase on London Road. It was agreed that all members would keep a watching eye on this situation to see if it resolves.
It was noted that change at Bullsmoor Lane had needed a ‘big political push’ to get reviewed. John Williams noted it was important to find the worst cases and prioritise those.
It was also noted that the proposed changes for the junction of Hertford Rd/Southbury Road under the Cycle Enfield proposals will make traffic flow at these lights much worse. Council estimates a reduction of 10-15% capacity as a result of the Cycle Enfield proposals.
8. Trains update – East Anglia franchise
Dave Cockle reported that the current operator Abelio had had its franchise renewed. They are now planning to renew their rolling stock for the whole fleet, but this will take 3 – 4 years. In the meantime they will run three trains an hour to Hertford East. What is unknown is whether these will call at Enfield Lock and Brimsdown. He also reported that rolling stock from Great Northern is being re-allocated to lengthen West Anglia Line trains, as and when they are replaced by brand new trains presently on order for Great Northern Outer Suburban Routes.
Ann Bishop-Laggatt asked what the situation was regarding the level crossings. It was confirmed that all the level crossings will close. However, no-one has said anything about whether the roads that currently go across these crossings will go over or under the track or be diverted. Work is apparently ongoing on this issue. It was commented that councillors do not appear to know what is going on regarding this issue, and it was emphasised that they should be looking at it now before the crossings are closed.
Cllr Fallart confirmed that he had asked questions on this point but had found the answers given to be evasive.
It was agreed that PR would forward the email he had received from Michelle Dix to Cllr Fallart to enable him to take this up with the Administration as it was agreed that we need to have solid plans in place now.
9. Update on bus review
Tony Wallis reported that there had been a meeting between TfL, LBE and ETUG on the 30th June. It had been chaired by Peter Bradley, Head of Consulting, who had been extremely apologetic for the delay in getting back to Enfield regarding the review.
As the meeting progressed it became clear that yet again TfL had misunderstood key elements of the bus review proposals. Some of the things they said were wrong, some ok while some were contradictory. They attributed outcomes to the proposed changes that had not been claimed by the ETUG/LBE document. However, they did produce a note based on the content of the ETUG maps, so this did show they had attempted to look at what was predicted. They appear to be particularly interested in the W10 to and from Crews Hill and making this into an all-day service, and in Meridian Water and making plans for that. Also the potential for making the 491 into a five bus an hour (peak) service was mentioned but no mention regarding the two bus an hour off peak provision. They also appeared confused over the W6 and W8 services. So overall there were some improvements on what had emerged from earlier meetings and some disappointments. They had said it would be six months until they would get back to Enfield, but that is now only a few weeks away. TW said he would provide more detailed notes for further consideration of the ETUG committee.
Don Smith noted that building of the Lime Trust Academy on the Chase Farm site would lead to a need for more buses – it is proposed that a three form, 30 children per class will open in 2017 – there has been no mention of bus services to support this. Stephen Elston said that he has put a note on the Western Enfield Residents’ Association website about this.
10. Feedback on TfL consultation on proposed improvements to pedestrian and cycle facilities on (A10) Great Cambridge Road/Bury Street junction. Linda Miller read extracts from the reports from TfL on the outcomes of their consultations on changes to the Great Cambridge Road at its junction with Bury Street, and where it crosses Salmon’s Brook; and on (A10) Great Cambridge Road, near to Turkey Brook. Regarding the proposals for the junction with Bury Street and at Salmons Brook, TfL had received a total of 51 responses of which just 20 (39.2%) were supportive or partially supportive of the changes at Salmons Brook and 28 (54.9%) supportive or fully supportive of the changes at Bury St. Nonetheless TfL has decided to proceed with the scheme as set out in the consultation documents, with just one amendment, which is to extend the island on Cambridge Terrace so that it joins the pedestrian crossing, thereby closing the gap between the two. Regarding the changes at Turkey Brook, TfL received a total of 58 responses, of which just 19 were supportive or partially supportive of the proposals (32.8%). Possible increase in congestion on the A10 and the safety of pedestrians using the crossing were the main concerns. TfL had said that the consultation has been ‘a valuable exercise in understanding views on our proposals and we will now spend time considering the points raised in the consultation and undertaking further investigations and design work. We will issue an update this autumn, which will set out our response to issues that were commonly raised in the consultation and explain the next steps.’