late November MQT answers
Policing football costs [1]
Question No: 2016/3401
Andrew Dismore
How much was refunded by London Football professional clubs in respect of policing costs in each of the last 3 financial years; and how much of that was paid by clubs in each division?
Written response from the Mayor
The total refunded and the breakdown by division over the last three football seasons is shown in the table below.
Significant work with football clubs to reduce policing requirements has resulted in reduced costs and lower charges to the clubs.
2013/14
£ |
2014/15
£ |
2015/16
£ |
|
Premier League | 1,689,906 | 1,223,778 | 234,207 |
Non-League | 3,421 | 372 | 0 |
League 1 | 63,759 | 2,116 | 0 |
Championship | 190,666 | 286,333 | 114,080 |
League 2 | 13,827 | 6,390 | 97 |
Total | 1,961,579 | 1,518,989 | 348,384 |
Policing football costs [1]
Question No: 2016/3908
Andrew Dismore
Further to Question No: 2016/3401
‘How much was refunded by London Football professional clubs in respect of policing costs in each of the last 3 financial years; and how much of that was paid by clubs in each division?’
Your response being:
‘Officers are drafting a response which will be sent shortly’.
Will you now give a substantive reply?
Written response from the Mayor
Please see my response to MQ 2016/3401.
Chinese Labour Corps
Question No: 2016/3890
Andrew Dismore
The Chinese Labour Corps were the largest overseas labour force and without their contribution and sacrifice (thousands of them were killed), WW1 would have dragged on for much longer. Will you support the efforts of the British Chinese community to establish a memorial to these forgotten heroes?
Written response from the Mayor
I remain committed to working with London’s Chinese community to commemorate the Chinese Labour Corps to Britain’s First World War effort.
I have instructed my community relations team to meet with members of the Chinese community to discuss this further.
Noise pollution through the night on the Northern Line
Question No: 2016/3903
Andrew Dismore
Further to Question No: 2016/3391
For many months, there has been a seriously noisy bit of track on the Northern Line, northbound between West Finchley and Woodside Park stations, approximately 100 metres before the track goes over Holden Road. Every time a train goes over this portion of track there is a pronounced clanking noise which is very disturbing for residents living nearby. Will you arrange for this to be investigated and remedial action taken promptly?
Your response being:
‘Officers are drafting a response which will be sent shortly’.
Will you now give a substantive reply?
Written response from the Mayor
Please see my response to MQ 2016/3391.
Policing football costs [2]
Question No: 2016/3402
Andrew Dismore
How much was refunded by each Premier League London Football club in respect of policing costs in each of the last 3 financial years?
Written response from the Mayor
See the attached table for the sums recovered from Premier League clubs over the last three football seasons.
Significant work with football clubs to reduce policing requirements has resulted in reduced costs and lower charges to the clubs.
Club | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 |
£ | £ | £ | |
Arsenal | 774,352 | 466,062 | 46,585 |
Chelsea | 237,235 | 206,175 | 103,180 |
Crystal Palace | 66,837 | 19,690 | 0 |
Fulham | 121,305 | n/a | 0 |
Queens Park Rangers | n/a | 31,819 | n/a |
Tottenham Hotspur | 302,874 | 401,231 | 38,568 |
West Ham United | 187,303 | 98,801 | 45,874 |
Policing football costs [2]
Question No: 2016/3909
Andrew Dismore
Further to Question No: 2016/3402
How much was refunded by each Premier League London Football club in respect of policing costs in each of the last 3 financial years?
Your response being:
‘Officers are drafting a response which will be sent shortly’.
Will you now give a substantive reply?
Written response from the Mayor
Please see my response to 2016/3402.
Policing football costs [3]
Question No: 2016/3403
Andrew Dismore
What is the best estimate of the total actual cost of policing professional football in London in each of the last 3 financial years, and how much of that relates to clubs in each division? Written response from the Mayor
The actual cost of policing football is made up of the officers deployed at each London game, as well as those involved in cross London policing response for travelling supporters.
In total these are:
2013/14 – £8,358,719
2014/15 – £9,494,599
2015/16 – £7,736,004
The cost per division is set out in attached.
Division | 2013/14
£ |
2014/15
£ |
2015/16
£ |
League 2 | 42,009 | 106,284 | 326,868 |
Premier League | 3,309,473 | 4,285,311 | 3,128,367 |
Non-League | 74,091 | 56,027 | 57,768 |
League 1 | 181,074 | 41,588 | 355,994 |
Championship | 941,139 | 1,201,970 | 1,499,378 |
Policing football costs [3]
Question No: 2016/3910
Andrew Dismore
Further to Question No: 2016/3403
What is the best estimate of the total actual cost of policing professional football in London in each of the last 3 financial years, and how much of that relates to clubs in each division?
Your response being:
‘Officers are drafting a response which will be sent shortly’.
Will you now give a substantive reply?
Written response from the Mayor
Please see my response to 2016/3403.
Policing football costs [4]
Question No: 2016/3404
Andrew Dismore
What is the best estimate of the total actual cost of policing each Premier League London Football club in each of the last 3 financial years?
Written response from the Mayor
The cost of policing Premier League clubs over the last three football seasons is set out below.
Club | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 |
£ | £ | £ | |
Arsenal | 985,660 | 957,931 | 672,922 |
Chelsea | 663,820 | 833,450 | 761,598 |
Crystal Palace | 382,631 | 399,239 | 427,447 |
Fulham | 283,186 | 435,363 | n/a |
Queens Park Rangers | n/a | 348,380 | n/a |
Tottenham Hotspur | 579,193 | 881,664 | 740,874 |
West Ham United | 414,983 | 429,284 | 525,526 |
Policing football costs [4]
Question No: 2016/3911
Andrew Dismore
Further to Question No: 2016/3404
What is the best estimate of the total actual cost of policing each Premier League London Football club in each of the last 3 financial years?
Your response being:
‘Officers are drafting a response which will be sent shortly’.
Will you now give a substantive reply?
Written response from the Mayor
Please see my response to 2016 /3404.
Policing football costs [5]
Question No: 2016/3912
Andrew Dismore
How many extra police constables could the Met afford if London professional football clubs contributed to the Met the full cost of policing their matches?
Written response from the Mayor
The cost of policing football in London varies each year.
Based on the 2015/16 season the net cost of officers deployed to football club related operations across London was £5,019,992. Based on an average salary this would equate to circa 93 constables.
20 minute waiting times for buses [1]
Question No: 2016/3916
Andrew Dismore
How many times in the last 6 months were there gaps of 20 minutes or more between buses for the following routes at the following stops:
- A) 234 at bus stop E, East Finchley
- B) 221 at bus stop J, North Finchley
- C) 251 at bus stop A, Totteridge
- D) 382 at bus stop C, Finchley Central?
Written response from the Mayor
I am aware of the frustration that Londoners experience when their bus is running late or their journey takes longer than it should, and I have tasked TfL with improving bus journey time reliability to tackle this problem. However, a 20 minute interval between services on low-frequency routes is acceptable if the service is keeping to its schedule and passengers can plan their journeys with confidence.
Around 80 per cent of bus passengers travel on high-frequency routes operating up to every 12 minutes. The remaining 20 per cent of bus passengers travel on low-frequency routes that operate five buses per hour or fewer, based on demand.
Mandating a 20 minute maximum interval between services on all bus routes is not practical and would involve moving buses from high-frequency to low-frequency routes, without consideration of passenger demand. The frequency of service on specific bus routes varies by location and passenger demand, with consideration of available resources. Wait times therefore vary based on the frequency scheduled. TfL’s Journey Planner and the many travel apps that are powered by TfL data mean that customers can plan journeys in advance.
I am concerned about the overall decline in bus reliability and journey times and I have asked TfL to put together a comprehensive plan to improve this. TfL is already making timetabling changes, introducing new bus priority initiatives and adjusting traffic signal phasing to improve bus speeds. In outer London specifically, TfL has been working with boroughs to develop new bus priority schemes, including new bus lanes and other initiatives. For example, the bus gate at Neasden in the London Borough of Brent enables quicker journeys on cross-borough route 206, linking Kilburn and Harlesden with Brent Park and Wembley, and the scheme at Erith in the London Borough of Bexley enables faster journeys on route 89, which links Lewisham, Bexleyheath and Erith.
TfL is also focussing on improving links and capacity in outer London. A recent example of an enhancement is the major scheme in North West London implemented in October 2016 to create new links to and from Northwick Park and Ealing hospitals and to create extra capacity for the growing Wembley area (route 83 and new route 483). In North East London route 158 (Chingford Mount – Stratford) was increased in frequency by 25 percent in September to provide extra capacity in the growing Blackhorse Road area. These types of initiatives are critical to improving transport links in outer London. I would envisage buses playing an even more pivotal role in densifying the public transport network, unlocking growth and reducing car dependency in outer London in the future as part of my Mayor’s Transport Strategy, which will be published in draft in the spring.
While TfL does not retain records for every bus arrival at specific stops, it continuously monitors whole-of-route performance against minimum standards and publishes this data for all bus routes each quarter. Performance reports for the four bus routes you ask about are available at: https://tfl.gov.uk/forms/14144.aspx?borough=Barnet&nameid=barnet&boroughid=2.
Three of the bus routes you mention (Routes 221, 234 and 251) are high-frequency routes. TfL’s most recent analysis of these routes found that:
Route 221 and Route 234 both met their minimum performance standard for Excess Waiting Time (EWT) (of 1.20 minutes and 0.90 minutes respectively) in the latest quarter, both showing an improvement from the previous quarter.
Route 251 did not meet its minimum performance standard for EWT (0.90 minutes) in the latest quarter, recording an EWT of 0.95 minutes, showing a decline from the previous quarter (0.81 minutes). The bus operator noted delays along Totteridge Common/Lane in the peak periods and TfL is keeping this under review.
Route 382 is a low-frequency route. While this route has met its minimum performance standard of 82.0 per cent for on-time departures in the past two quarters, TfL has observed a small decline between quarters (from 83.0 per cent to 82.2 per cent). Where bus routes fail to meet the minimum standards, TfL works with bus operators to understand the causes and find solutions. TfL also continuously works with all bus operating companies to maintain a reliable service on all routes.
In addition to these measures, TfL is reviewing the bus network to improve reliability, and ensure it is responsive to demand and wider changes across London. TfL will continue to develop proposals for consultations on bus routes to inform this review and I would encourage you to contribute to this process.
20 minute waiting times for buses [2]
Question No: 2016/3917
Andrew Dismore
Do you agree that waiting 20 minutes for a bus is unacceptable? If so how do you intend to remedy this across London?
Written response from the Mayor
Please see my response to MQ2016/3916.
20 minute waiting times for buses [3]
Question No: 2016/3918
Andrew Dismore
Do you agree that key to improving transport links in outer London is to improve the frequency of bus routes? If so, will you make 20 minute waits for cross-borough bus services a thing of the past?
Written response from the Mayor
Please see my response to MQ2016/3916.
Night tube and public convenience for Chalk Farm
Question No: 2016/3925
Andrew Dismore
At the most recent ward Safer Neighbourhood meeting in Haverstock, concerns were raised about the impact of the night tube and in particular that it would result in more people who have had too much to drink relieving themselves in doorways on the way to or from Chalk Farm station. How do you plan to mitigate against this, and will you consider reopening the public toilet at Chalk Farm station?
Written response from the Mayor
Since the successful launch of Night Tube on the Central, Victoria and Jubilee lines, I am pleased to say there has been no reported increase in this kind of anti-social behaviour around Night Tube stations. TfL will continue to work closely with the police to ensure there is a strong police presence both inside stations and on the streets nearby to deter anti-social behaviour.
Chalk Farm station has had no public toilets for over 25 years. The toilets at this Tube station have been converted into a station staff control point and into a small shop so it would not be possible to re-open them.
I do appreciate that access to toilet facilities is an important issue. TfL has published a map to show toilets on the Tube network at: http://content.tfl.gov.uk/toilets-map.pdf. All toilets on the Night Tube lines will remain open through the night.