Notes of Travel to Work Implementation Group Meeting

NOTES OF TRAVEL TO WORK IMPLEMENTATION GROUP MEETING

Thursday, 2nd December 2004

10.00am Chancellors Room, Queens Building

Present: Gareth Williams – Chairperson (GW)

Jont Cole (JJC)

Alan Millership (AFM)

Martin Wiles (MW)

Chris Starr (CS)

Chris Willmore (CW)

Jane Lorimer (JL)

Carolyn Picton (CP)

Tony MacDonald (TM)

Marjorie Dunderdale (MD)

Gareth Williams opened the meeting with a welcome and introduced himself as the new chairperson of TWIG. He thanked Jont Cole and Jane Lorimer for the presentation given to the TWIG group prior to the meeting and asked for people’s thoughts or comments. Tony
MacDonald stated that he felt the essential points had been put across.

Apologies Received

John Bailey and Kim England

Minutes of the last Meeting

The minutes of the last meeting were accepted as a true record.

Matters Arising

Car Parking Charges

JJC said that he had received a letter confirming that the University would be receiving the additional income from ring fencing from increased charges. This amount would be shown separately from the deficit of the original scheme.
CW asked if the deficit would offset the 4-year break even. Jont Cole replied that there had been a loss of £40k after the Blade project.
1 /

Decisions

a) /

Appeals from Departments

Papers were circulated to the Committee prior to the meeting.
Applicant 1
The Committee agreed the present number of spaces is sufficient for the needs of applicant 1 and additional spaces would not be granted.
Applicant 2
Formerly A space holders in 2002, whose application was declined in 2003. The Committee did not uphold their appeal to recover their spaces.
Applicant 3
Additional space request was not granted by the Committee because several staff are in a similar position carrying heavy equipment to and from their workplace.
Applicant 4
A space could not be granted on the basis that a staff member needs to attend meeting frequently. The appeal was not upheld.
Applicant 5
Additional space request was not granted by the Committee because several staff are in a similar position carrying heavy equipment to and from their workplace.
JJC and AFM envisaged further problems if additional spaces should be granted to departments. JJC stated that he is not satisfied that departments need to write to them regarding requests for additional spaces because they may not be required. Questions were raised about the number of spaces each department holds. Gareth Williams stated that Alspac have 10 car parking spaces for their visitors, which seemed reasonable. Carolyn Picton and Chris Willmore both stated that the number of spaces is considered sufficient for the needs of Alspac and it was agreed that allocation of spaces must be based on need. Jont Cole added that the application forms need to be changed so that applicants are better able to justify their needs more clearly.
AFM reported that there are currently 274 department spaces. Category B + C permit holders become very upset when they see vacant spaces and do not understand why and will question this fact.
Gareth Williams agreed that there are a number of gaps and there is undoubtedly some abuse of the system. It was put forward that in the Spring all departments should be asked to reapply for departmental spaces; and each application will be awarded on its merits. Chris Willmore reminded the group that if prices are pushed up too high, the cost would be forced onto the employee. Jont Cole is aware that the price mechanism has not worked. Reviews are proposed for early February on criteria but that would not allow sufficient time for people who have been displaced to reapply.

Car-Share Teams

AFM reiterated that for a car-share team to be viable, the criteria states that they have to travel to and from work 3 times a week together.
Caroline Picton pointed out that Psychiatry has a lot of researchers and undergraduates doing fieldwork, who need their cars to go out, hence the cost is being borne by the individuals, finding very unfair and is an issue. It was also pointed out that Primary Health has unused spaces. Gareth Williams suggested the departments speak to each other and come to an informal agreement. Chris Willmore asked the Committee for agreement that if there were a problem, AFM and JJC would authorise on behalf of TWIG to make alternative arrangements for the 2 departments concerned.
AFM reported that there is little take up at 34 Tyndalls Park Road and space is available at Canynge Hall. He had not been made aware of the problems at Cotham House before.
AFM: No to all. Will respond to all as the audit is taking place.
1b /

Appeals from applicants for Category B car parking

Papers were circulated to TWIG members prior to the meeting.

Applicant 1

Applicant submitted a late application, which should have been received by 1 September 2004. The first application was lost in the post. TWIG to approve a late application.

Applicant 2

The circumstances were not considered exceptional, as there are several parents in similar circumstances with a 12-year-old child. The appeal was not upheld.

Applicant 3

The applicant had moved out of the area and had thus made themselves ineligible to qualify according to TWIG rules. The appeal was not upheld.

Applicant 4

The applicant had moved out of the area and had thus made themselves ineligible to qualify according to TWIG rules. The appeal was not upheld.

Applicant 5

The circumstances were not considered exceptional, as there are several parents in similar circumstances with a 12 year old child. The appeal was not upheld.
Jont Cole stated that TWIG has to determine if applicants are simply questioning the principles of car parking. It may be necessary for TWIG to give further clarification. The group will revisit the rules and if necessary, will change the application form adding the clarification because it could affect appeals. / Security
Services
2 /

DISCUSSION

a) /

Proposed Work Schedule for 2004/05

Jane Lorimer, new Travel Co-ordinator circulated a chart mapping out the tasks/projects she proposes to work on during 2005, giving an explanation of how her proposals will be implemented. Student travel plan and fleet management are a high priority. Projects to date include Facilities, bike sheds, showers. Their standards and usage vary quite significantly.
Chris Willmore commented that Jane’s workload seemed to be heavy at the beginning of the year. Chris advised that before starting a project, it would be better to determine exactly what information needs to be gathered and the purpose it will serve. When information is requested, people need to know why, otherwise there is a tendency not to respond to requests. People also like to be informed of the results of surveys.
Martin Wiles stated that time would be needed to implement the travel analysis and TWIG needs to consider how soon the next survey should be carried out. An agenda has been proposed for March 2005 meeting.
HUBS
HUBS is a major priority and Jane would be analysing data from the 2003 meeting in addition to meeting with UBHT for discussions. Jane will report back her progress to TWIG at the next meeting. The longer term objectives for HUBS will be dependent on these results.
Jont Cole said it would be useful to obtain a summary of HUBS travel plans. Jane informed the group that the vacancy for Travel Plan Co-ordinator (Hubs) has been advertised. The Committee expressed their gratitude for Jane’s hard work.
Chris Willmore expressed concern about the timings of meetings, as there was no allowance for changing the criteria for the summer. Jont Cole said that with the level of work going on at present, it would not be possible for the TWIG to restrict themselves to 2 meetings per year. It may mean bringing some meetings forward but there would definitely be some changes.
Canygye Hall
Alan Millership reported that Canynge Hall is not full due to people being displaced from B + C spaces. It was noted however, that more people are using the car park than before, but some of the vehicles are not registered cars and shoppers are probably using the car park. Jont Cole said that currently Canynge Hall is rented and as from March 2005, UoB will have to pay a lot of money. It will be necessary to clamp non-University users and the charges for anonymous cars will be higher than those for University staff.
Marjorie Dunderdale pointed out that Canynge Hall is not well lit.
Jont stated that the software needs to be smarter with electronic representation for the security staff to see exactly where spaces are available on a daily basis. / JL
3 /

INFORMATION

a /

Replacement of TWIG Members

AFM stated that the letter is accurate of all members here. Any comments should be directed to AFM.
JL: Noreen Daniels has asked to be replaced.
N King has been taken off.
TWIG needs 15 members.
CW requested that the group needs more than one public transport user.
JJC suggested writing to all staff to ask if they still wish to be on TWIG. It is an appropriate time for a call for new members with particular modes of transport. JJC will draft a letter to all members.
CW: Aware TWIG is underrepresented in certain groups such as academic related or support staff. The letter will welcome representation from these groups.
Don’t know the categories of representation of B + C from chart. / JJC
3b /

Update on arrangements for University Walk

AFM reported that there has been a partial return of spaces to University Walk. Engineering department has been using several spaces to park their two blue equipment containers. The containers are to be moved off-site altogether and UoB is in negotiations with a container company for storage. Additional C spaces will be created to compensate for the losses elsewhere in the precinct. The matter regarding the number of contractor vehicles on site will be taken up with the Contract office, as this number has to reduce. MW reminded the group that contractors have been told that they are only permitted two vehicles per company on site; otherwise the only alternative is to clamp them.
Improved lighting in University Walk has been requested and Building Services dealing with this. There are some spaces on UW, which are used for accommodating overflow of visitors from the Hawthorns, emergency or temporary situations and the Shred-It van that parks every second Tuesday.
CW passed on her thanks for reversing the herringbone on University Walk.
MD said that spaces have been given to OPH for recycling. MW replied that it would be a long process to go through if it is decided to use that space. More than 15 spaces have been identified but it is a question of fitting them near to the bins. There would be a range of uses relating to planning. Thirty of the spaces are still in use this year.
3c / New Admin Supervisor in Security from 4 January, 05.
AFM reported that Ceri Bishop has been appointed as the new departmental administrator. Ceri will assume administrative responsibility for car parking. She will also have to be licensed. All Security staff has to be licensed by 28 February 2005 and are obliged to attend 35-hour training course, which will include conflict management training. The applications take 9 weeks to process. New regulations state that with effect from 1 March 2005, if staff are not licensed, they are not legally able to clamp. All staff will also be required to have a CRB check. AFM pointed out that all 3 car park attendants retire next year, so a lot of work will be passed onto the office admin staff.

AOB

CP asked if UoB is able to reclaim the car parking spaces at Cotham House. JJC replied that it would be a question of liability but he would investigate the matter.
CP informed TWIG that she is aware that University staff are using car park spaces at 1 WR.
AFM informed the group that the breakdown of B + C spaces is as follow: Bs - 185 spaces available
309 have been issued
Cs - 236 available
655 issued / JJC

Date of Next Meeting

To be confirmed.
Items noted in these minutes have been discussed considering the issues of both equal opportunities and race relation implications:

YES/NO Signed: Gareth Williams