Notes of Trams to Newhaven (TTN) Team/Community Councils Together for Trams (CCTT) Meeting

Date of Meeting: 25 March 2025 (No 1 – 2025 series)

Present

TTN – Robert Armstrong and Chris Wilson
CCTT – Harald Tobermann (LCCC), Elaine Dick (LHNCC), Angus Hardie and Andrew Mackenzie (LLCC), Mike Birch (NTBCC)

Apologies

Charlotte Encombe (LCCC)

Meeting Notes

1. Meeting Housekeeping and Protocols It was agreed that meetings at least initially would take place monthly, in-person and subject to confirmation of availability on the last Thursday of each month at McDonald Road library. Meetings on TEAMS or at less frequency may be considered later in the year. Issues discussed at meetings and points made by attendees would not be circulated outside of meeting other than as part of agreed meeting notes. CCTT members would still be able to respond to queries about the status of specific issues in their area. Meetings would continue until the end of 2025 at which time it was expected that the need for the TTN/CCTT group would be finished and a final close out report prepared for TEC review. Notes (rather than detailed minutes) of each meeting would be prepared and issued for review by TTN team before wider distribution. Harald offered to continue as the CCTT spokesperson which was accepted. It was agreed that the list of outstanding issues should not be published until it is complete and ready for review by the Transport and Environment Committee. A dashboard which is under development would be used to monitor and report progress. Actions:
   Harald to confirm meeting arrangements/booking
   Robert to draft dashboard for review at next TTN/CCTT meeting
2. Meeting Purpose It was agreed that the purpose of the meetings was to:
   • ●  Compile a comprehensive master list of remaining issues
   • ●  Agree the prioritisation of those issues for resolution
   • ●  Monitor progress against agreed action plans
   • ●  Receive updates on other TTN-related issues (e.g., Project Board meetings, RSA progress and findings)
3. Development of Master List Harald explained the process for the production of the master list which was largely the result of the detailed inspection of the route by Robert and Chris but also included issues identified by stakeholders, local Councillors, descoped from project and as a result of the RSAs that had been undertaken. This list, which has a non-trivial number of items, had been split by Community Council area and issued for review. As a result, some additional issues had been identified but it was acknowledged that further review of the route by the CCTT members was required before it could be considered complete.

It was recognised that there were some duplications (caused by having several independent sources) and some difficulty identifying the precise location of defects. Also, the classification used was not always helpful and this needed further review in order that a summary or dashboard could be produced.

Once a final list was agreed it was planned to undertake a RAG prioritisation exercise. Red would be those that are most significant or important and thus retained by the TTN team for resolution using project-related funds. Amber and Green would be handed to specific Council departments for resolution from normal Council budgets with those marked Amber being regarded as the priority for action. It was suggested that a column could be added to the spreadsheet to allow the issues to be identified as defect/descoped/improvement. It was noted that LLCC had been provided with all of the Constitution Street related issues even though some of these fell in the LHNCC area. It was agreed to provide Elaine with a copy of these issues.

Chris noted that he had met with Parks and Greenspaces department staff to look at soft landscaping issues in the LHNCC area. Chris agreed to provide a detailed list of their recommendations to Elaine.

Mike questioned whether signalling issues were included in the list. Robert confirmed that issues with the signalling infrastructure were included but SPRUCE- related software issues were not. There was some discussion about whether this was correct. Robert agreed to provide a justification for that decision.

The plan is for a summary of the master list to be presented to the June TEC meeting with a final close out report of the TTN project occurring at the end of 2025 or early 2026. In order to meet the deadlines for the June TEC meeting, the final list would need to be available for mid-May. This would require all CCTT input to be provided by the end of April. This timing would be confirmed at the next planned TTN/CCTT meeting. Once agreed no further issues would be added to the list.

Actions:
All CCTT to complete review of their section of TTN route and provide final input Robert to confirm timing of inputs required for June TEC
Robert to issue document regarding SPRUCE-related issues
Mike to provide Constitution Street issues to Elaine
Chris to provide soft landscaping issues to Elaine

4. Next Steps

Robert explained that decisions regarding the Project would continue to be largely made by the Project Board but with review by the TEC. Gareth Barwell had assumed responsibility as the Chair of this Board which included senior representatives from the Place organisation as well as members of the Communications, Finance, Internal Audit and Legal teams. As noted above, the intention was to be able to close out the project by the end of the year.