London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, we discussed the traffic management provisions for the Olympic route network in Committee and had a good debate. Since then, the Minister has written to many noble Lords and we are very grateful to her for that. In raising this issue again on Report, I do not want it to be felt that we are in any sense being critical of the responses that we have so far had to these debates. I reaffirm that we all share a commitment: we do not want competitors missing their events or officials failing to turn up at the right time just because London is gridlocked. Following the mention of bipartisanship—I am sorry that the noble Lord, Lord Patten, is no longer in his place as I wanted to raise it for him—I want to mention one other matter. It is not directly related to this amendment but I think it would help the House. In our previous series of debates we had a big discussion on ticketing. It was very pleasing that the head of ticketing at LOCOG made contact with me directly and asked whether we would like a briefing on our side of the House. I said that we would but also suggested bringing in the noble Lord, Lord Higgins, who made some points in Committee that I am sure your Lordships will remember. As a result of that, we had a bipartisan meeting with LOCOG at which we bashed the issue of tickets around. I have not yet seen the letter that the Minister promised to write but I think we may have convinced him that one or two of the things that the Government were offering in Committee—they were certainly in the comments made by the noble Lord, Lord Coe—were not really necessary for where they wanted to get to and that there is a better solution to some of the problems that were raised in the House. That is a good example of how we should progress on these matters. I am very grateful to those who were able to facilitate it. The discussions at Second Reading and in Committee have not stilled the sense of unease that many of us feel about the provisions in the Bill relating to transport. Nor have they stopped people contacting us or writing to us. It certainly is not wise to get a black cab at the moment, with all that is going on around taxi use of the ORN. Media scares are to be expected but—I hope I speak for everybody in your Lordships’ House—we would be at fault if we did not try everything in our power to ensure success in every aspect of the Games. As the noble Baroness, Lady Grey-Thompson, said in our previous debate, this may not be the sexiest part of the Games’ organisation but you have to get it right if the Games are to be the best yet, as we all hope they will be. As things stand, the feeling of the House at the end of the previous debate on this issue was that there is a potential PR disaster here. I should like to highlight three of the many concerns that have been raised. First, the laying out and operation of the Olympic lanes—the two central lanes on many parts of the ORN, which at peak may have Olympic vehicles passing down them every six seconds—is bound to have a major impact on the road system in London and cause much change and disruption to normal, day-to-day activity. Secondly, there is a growing sense that there will be two classes of traveller making their way to the Olympic venues: those who glide down the Olympic lanes and those whose journeys are pure hell. Thirdly, there is the need to reduce non-Olympic demand on the Tube—that is, Londoners, non-Games visitors and people going about their everyday lives. We were told that this reduction would be approximately 30 per cent during the Games. That is on top of those reductions that will already have happened as a result of the normal change of the seasons. If people are to get to the venues in reasonable time and London is to keep moving, there must be a three in 10 reduction in usage of the Tube system. On the first point, we have, until now, concentrated on the ORN because that is the bigger and more concrete—excuse the pun—form of the transport system that will run for the Games. However, we need to focus a little more on the Olympic lanes themselves. Once the lanes start going in, let alone when they are being used during the Games, there will a bit of a hullaballoo, which will slow down and stop other traffic. Taking up two lanes, even on the widest of London’s roads, will be a real pain. I just do not see how London will keep going. Maybe the situation is better than we fear but the truth is that we do not know because consultations are still being carried out. Indeed, in response to the questions that were asked in Committee about, for example, whether taxis will be able to use the Olympic lanes, we were told that monthly meetings are still being held. On the second point, as we discussed last time, our dilemma is that we want to provide good, reliable travel facilities for bona fide Games participants and their necessary support staff. However, this group makes up much less than half of those who must be given access to the ORN lanes. The impact that this will have on ticket-holders struggling to get to the Games will be a problem. We have committed to the ORN and it must go ahead, but what is the communication strategy and when will it kick in? On the third point, I cannot be alone in finding these figures difficult to comprehend. What on earth will be done to reduce Tube usage by 30 per cent? All we have to go on is the Minister’s recent letter, in which she says that there will need to be large reductions at specific stations and on specific lines, and that that scale of reduction has been achieved at previous Games. I assume we are not talking about the 1948 Olympics, so where was this? Where have these reductions been achieved and how did they do it? I think we should be told. Short of locking gates and physically preventing people using the Tube at certain times, I just do not get it. We covered all the detailed arguments in our earlier sessions on the Bill, so there is no need to go on with these points or to raise other questions, although there are some. I repeat: this amendment does not seek to offer faux guidance on what should be done to resolve these points, which are, I am sure, occupying better and more professionally qualified minds than mine at this very moment. Our amendment stems from the point that was made in Committee. While the Government will get absolutely no credit from a successful Olympic and Paralympic Games—although that is what we all want to see—they will be pilloried if there are the slightest problems over such issues as transport. Our concern on this side of the House is that Parliament, too, may be held in disrepute if we do not point out the concerns that are being reflected to us and call the Government to account. It is with that in mind that our amendment calls for Parliament to be fully briefed three months before the Games on the measures that LOCOG is taking on transport that it thinks will resolve these and other related issues. We are not arguing that Parliament should take over responsibility for this issue; we are not arguing that there is necessarily anything wrong with the planning at this or that point in time. However, a properly documented analysis of the situation and how LOCOG is dealing with it, drawn together and formally presented to Parliament, would help in the communications battle to get across to people not only what the problem is but what is being done to ameliorate it, and give proof positive that Parliament has been kept fully informed. I beg to move.