David Taylor catches up with New Londoner of the Year, Baron Hendy of Richmond Hill, to talk transport connectivity, placemaking, HS2, and owning and driving two Routemaster buses.

 

You have just won New Londoner of the year - What does that mean to you?

 

Peter Hendy (Baron Hendy of Richmond Hill)  

Oh, I'm really very proud, actually. I think that it's very nice that the judges have recognized the contribution that transport plays in the role of the life and development of the city, and it's a great honour to have been involved in it at such a high level for quite a long time. So yeah, it's a lovely prize.

 

And you mentioned that connecting places is key. Can you enlarge on that in the current state of affairs? I'm thinking particularly of things like HS2...

 

Well look, let's take a practical example. If you look at Crossrail, or the Elizabeth line, which has had some controversy, certainly latterly, when it didn't open when it should, and it's cost more than anybody expected it to. But look at the effect on the city as a consequence. Look at the dramatic changes which have already started to happen as a consequence of it coming - the places outside London and outside the greater London boundary that you connect. Places like Slough which is a dismal, low value and you know, sort of industrial warehousing - look at the buildings, look at the developments which are now being put there. And then look at the effect in the city itself - round the Crossrail stations at Farringdon, at Whitechapel, and you can see the effect that transport has. And if you go further back, actually, the Jubilee Line had a very narrow business case. When it was opened to Stratford, it too was late and cost a lot more money. Look at the development that's taken place as a consequence. Would that have happened without those transport links? The answer's no. So actually, transport and development are intimately connected. 

 

Does the government have too short-termist a view about transport projects, to fund them effectively, to back them effectively? And if they do, what is a way of us getting around that?

 

You can't help but remark on the Prime Minister's recent decision to curtail HS2, which has been the subject of cross-party agreement ever since it was devised, which is a good 15 years ago. And I think that that is a shame. Because the infrastructure takes a long time to build, it costs a lot of money, and generally it will last between 100 and 120 years. In fact, most of it lasts longer than that, if you look at the age of the national railway network, we have structures in fact, we have got one in the Stockton and Darlington railway, which was built 197 years ago. So, it's past its payback date. And in the modern world, you can only get those done in government terms of a maximum of five years by a cross-party agreement about what the right thing to do is. So, I think it is a shame that the Prime Minister has made that decision about HS2. Of course, our job as Network Rail and the national railway network is to work out what the consequences of it are. But what I would say is that actually the reason for a body like the National infrastructure Commission, the reason why politicians have a great deal of power is that some of the decisions they're taking have huge ramifications over a long period of time. So actually, they do need to think quite carefully about the consequences of either starting infrastructure programmes or stopping them.

 

If you were to look into your crystal ball over the next five years in the London picture, what do you expect to happen in the transport world?

 

Without taking political sides, because I can't and I don't, I mean, what's the likelihood? The likelihood is, following the 2024's elections we will probably still wind up with a Labour mayor, and we will probably have a Labour government. What I hope as a consequence is that that will make the relationship between the mayor and the government easier. And we'll restore to TfL the sort of long-term funding profile which will enable them to get on with the infrastructure developments needed to develop London further in line with the London Plan.  That's not a political point. It's a practical point, which is that TfL, as a transport authority like we do at Network Rail needs a long-term programme. And actually, the city needs a long-term programme because the city has started to grow again. It's clearly got all sorts of difficulties with housing. It's got employment difficulties and connectivity is a way of alleviating those. And if you don't invest in connectivity, you make it more difficult.

 

Two more things. Firstly, you're now a Lord. Tell me what that experience has been like so far, including your first speech.

 

So, it's very daunting. And in fact, the late Lord Judge who sadly, just died recently, who's the convener of the crossbench peers, rang me and said, after it was announced, if you don't have some trepidation about this, you're probably not a decent, not a good appointment. And I did have a lot of trepidation about it. And actually, it's a great honour to be there. It's not very compatible with the sort of job that I do at Network Rail...

 

Timewise?

 

Timewise - I work four days a week. But the opportunity of contributing your experience to governance and the formation of law, advising the government is a really good one. So, I've been introduced, which is the sort of formal bit where you wear robes... 

 

...Where do you get the robes from?

 

You borrow them (laughs). I don't need a set of peers' robes in my wardrobe! I tell you, they're very warm and the House of Lords is very cold in the winter! But anyway, I've done my maiden speech, which you can read - it's about March the 15th in Hansard. In fact, you can watch it, on Parliament TV - look for Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill because my brother is in there and he's just Lord Hendy. So, I've done my maiden speech, but I can't get in there very often because I've got a diary full of appointments about Network Rail and about the LLDC. But I will go in for subjects that I think I know something about, and I think I know a bit about transport; I know a bit about London and a bit about development. And, you know, I think for all of the criticisms of a House of Lords that is largely now populated by political patronage, actually, my experience of meeting the people in it is that there are some very clever, some very knowledgeable, some very experienced individuals in there who have the benefit of a huge amount of knowledge. And that, as a second house, is not a bad thing to have, actually.

 

Your nomenclature, Richmond Hill, how did you decide on that? 

 

Well, we live there (laughs)! Well, it’s a long story - too long for the article, but I can't be Lord Hendy because my brother is Lord Hendy. He's Lord Hendy, comma, of Hayes and Harlington, which is where he and I were brought up years ago. So, I had to be Lord Hendy of somewhere. And Richmond Hill is where we live. So, if people get upset by that, then they've got no reason to be because actually, we're resident. But I said, well, I could have a comma, too. And the guy at the College of arms said, Yeah, you can have a comma. So that's why I've got ‘Of Imber in the county of Wiltshire’. And the story about Imber is a good story. Because every year, my mates and I run a bus service to Imber - one day a year. It started as a bit of a joke in 2010. Last year, we ran a service with 30-odd vehicles - we collected £40,000 in fares, all of which we give to charity, some of which we give to the church in Imber, because it's in the middle of Salisbury Plain military training area. So, you can't normally get to it. And nobody lives there. So, I thought, well, I can't upset anybody if I put Imber in my name because nobody lives there. So that's fine. So that's what it is.

 

It's as simple as that. So that brings me to my last question which is about buses. So, you own a Routemaster...

 

Two!

 

Two Routemasters? And you run these property drives; tell me about that. 

 

We do. So, Peter Murray and I, we do three or four a year.  One of them's generally always the City, one's the West End. We did one this year around Surrey Quays with Roger Madelin for British Land. And we assemble developers, architects, planners, builders, of new and changing buildings in a changing landscape. And as we go round, they give a commentary on what they're doing and why, and value, and so on. Fantastically interesting. We do it three or four times a year; Peter charges a lot of money for them, which is great. And all the money that he raises, and we raise through the bus trips we give to charity too. So, I reckon probably since we've been doing it, which must now be at least 10 years, we must have done 40 of them. And we probably raised £300,000-£400,000 quid. And it's good fun.

 

So why two Routemasters? I mean, I've got seven bikes; I can't talk...!

 

Well, there you go. Well, that's why I've got two Routemasters, because one's not enough. We have a good time and I drive them myself. And I love driving. It's one of one of my great relaxations, driving a bus in London.

 

Brilliant.  Thank you very much for your time. 

 

Thank you!