Agenda and minutes

To approve as an accurate record, and the Chair to sign, the minutes of the meeting held on the 9^th September.

RESOLVED –

That the minutes of the meeting held on the 3^rd September be approved as an accurate record and that they be signed by the Chair.

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no Declarations of Interest.

To receive a report from the Director for Safer Neighbourhoods and the Director for Finance and Resources, ELRS on recent management activity

The committee received a report from the Director for Safer Neighbourhoods and the Director for Finance and Resources updating the committee on management activity carried out since the last meeting.

The report covered the following areas:

HS2 Wetland Mitigation

It was reported that HS2 were flexible in considering alternatives to the proposal of a wetland habitat on the Scrubs. They had made it clear, however, that any proposals for a mitigation scheme had to replace lost habitat from the HS2 scheme like for like. A meeting had taken place between officers where ideas had been discussed for proposals to make to HS2 on ways that the Scrubs could be improved that would not destroy the nature of the area. From this a walk around the Scrubs with representatives from HS2 had been proposed. It was felt clarification was needed over the type of habitat that would need replacing and what the Scrubs would have to provide. Officers invited both members and Friends to join in the walk around and agreed to circulate the dates.

                                                                                                Action: Jackie Simkins

Members felt that officers were allowing HS2 to dictate the terms of the mitigation. Care needed be taken to ensure that the wetland proposal did not go ahead without the approval of the trust and a clear message needed to be sent. It was felt that the Trust should tell HS2 to provide works that they thought more beneficial to the Scrubs, for example, demolishing the Artillery Wall. Members enquired why the habitat mitigation had to go ahead on the Scrubs at all, when works to the area could actually prove detrimental.

It was asked whether there was a legal provision that could force the Trust to accept the mitigation proposal. Officers agreed to find out if there were a risk of this and legal advice would be sought.

Action: Jackie Simkins

It was reported that the ecology centre that had been proposed by the Trust as an alternative form of mitigation would not count as such by HS2, as it did not replace habitat like for like. There was also concern amongst officers that the Authority would have had to have paid for the running costs of the centre. It was agreed that the removal of the Artillery wall remained the best option, not only having an environmental benefit but a practical one, as it also solved the problem of the school coaches.

TFL Overground Options Update

Officers reported that the consultation period on the three Overground options had now ended. Both the Trust and the Authority had written in support of Option C and against Options A and B.

There had been 1900 responses to the survey in total. 85% of those responses were in support of the scheme as a whole, 80% felt that it should be incorporated into the HS2 scheme and 75% said they were likely to use the scheme. Of the stakeholders, Hammersmith, Brent, RBKC and Hounslow had all supported Option C. Ealing had supported both A  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

The following meeting date is proposed:

·         Wednesday 4^th March

The date of the next meeting is provisionally set for the 4^th March