Minutes 5th September 2000

Minutes of Meeting on 5 September 2000:
CRYSTAL PALACE & NORWOOD
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

MINUTES OF MEETING HELD AT THE PHOENIX COMMUNITY CENTRE
ON TUESDAY 5th SEPTEMBER 2000

PRESENT
Chairman - Doug Barnes (Tamnag Thai)
Hon. Secretary -Alan Thompson (ST&T Publishing Ltd)
Press Officer - Chris Dobb (Upper Norwood Joint Library)
Hon. Solicitor - Geoff Harding (Bennett Welch)
Crystal Palace Partnership - David Kerr
Hanover Park - Keith Peraux
Quotes - James Slattery-Kavanagh
Lilburne Press - Nicholas Reed
Lorenzo Restaurant - Lorenzo Nargi
I.W. & S.A. Ward - Ian Ward
GUESTS
Michel Bouzida S.N. Castle
Kevin Carleton-Reeves
John Gracie Employment Service
Crystal Palace Consortium - John Payne
Roger Sorell
APOLOGIES
Wendy Allen
Peter Runacres

2. APOLOGIES
See above.

3. Minutes of Meeting on 4 July 2000
Proposed: James Slattery-Kavanagh
Seconded: Ian Ward
The minutes of the Meetings were presented and approved.

4. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT
The Chairman had attended meetings with the police about the new cross-border initiative that was being implemented in the Triangle.
Further updates on the Topsite Development and the proposed one-way system were not available at the meeting. However, the Chairman has promised to put this in his next Newsletter to Members, which will go out with the October meeting flyer.

5. SCOTT McINTOSH - TRANSPORT FOR LONDON (TfL)
Scott firstly explained that as a member of TfL his department was responsible for the tube, buses, minicabs, Docklands Light Railway and the Highways Agency.
The Tramlink which opened early this year had taken some 11 years from conception to up and running and a further three years to get finally on stream. The current track is 28km in length. It outstrips Manchester in popularity.
Teething troubles had been encountered. Vandalism had resulted in signs on stations and carriage windows being damaged, but alternatives were being actively looked at. Every step has CCTV connected to the existing CCTV in Croydon town centre. Extra off-peak services were now being looked at now that user patterns have emerged. Carriages were designed for the disabled in mind and provision had been made for baby buggies. The Whitgift Centre has notched up a 20% increase in trade and parking in the centre is down by 6%. An Impact Study was being undertaken which would look at the impact of Tramlink on housing prices in the area.
Several other schemes were being looked at. This includes a link to Crystal Palace which would terminate at the newly-refurbished Crystal Palace rail station. Scott pointed out that that at platform three there was an unused platform which would make an ideal terminus. A Transport Works Act (TWA) would have to be initiated before any work could commence, probably by 2002. This gave an anticipated completion date of 2005.

6. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
The meeting ended with informal discussion amongst the Members.

FUTURE MEETINGS
7 November
12 December - Christmas Party
Alan Thompson
Hon. Secretary

Signed .................... Date ....................
Doug Barnes
Chairman