Agenda item - Chairs Communications

36.1      The Chair provided the following communications:

“On Air Quality and Health, Public Health England has published a report called ‘Health matters: air pollution’.  And included within it is a case study about our involvement in helping to reduce bus emissions and improved air quality in the city based on the work to seek and secure government grants to roll out cleaner less polluting vehicle fleets. This highlights that, on some routes, reductions in harmful pollutants such as Nitrogen Dioxide and Particulate Matter have been achieved.

The city is also beginning to benefit from an increased level of engagement with Network Rail on a number of issues.  For example, there have been presentations and discussions with a range of stakeholders about the proposed ‘blockades’ to enable essential rail maintenance work to be carried out, and about future investment plans and the works to the Brighton Mainline, which include unlocking the Croydon bottleneck  and elsewhere in the wider Greater Brighton City Region area.

Officers have also attended a South East Route Stakeholder Partnership Forum meeting recently and we very much hope that this continues and that the dialogue leads to some positive action and outcomes that keeps the city’s  residents, workers and visitors fully informed of its plans and implications for travelling by train.

And finally, officers have been liaising with key Transport for London officers about improving accessibility and site safety on major construction and development sites in London and the city.  The current and planned traffic management arrangements for Valley Gardens Phases 1 and 2 has provided a useful focus to review site safety and access provision for pedestrians, cyclists and vulnerable highway users.

We will keep Members of this committee and the Transport Partnership informed as things progress”.