British Tunnelling Society

• Home
• Working Groups
• Parlimentary Group

Parlimentary Group

Print Page

The Chairman of the BTS Lobby Group is Helen Nattrass

APGUS was re-launched in the current Parliament in April 2006 with the Rt. Hon. Nick Raynsford MP as Chairman. Nick has been Minister for Construction in the past and is the Chairman of the Construction Industry Council (CIC).

Recent APGUS events have included a visit to Abbey Mills Pumping Station and the Northern Interceptor Sewer in East London and a visit to the DLR tunnelling site at Woolwich, East London. There have also been presentations on Underground Nuclear Waste Disposal, Sustainability in Underground Construction and the Thames Tideway Scheme.

Future events

• October 2007 - visit to the Combe Down Stone Mines
• January 2008 - Presentation by Professor Robert Mair FREng, FRS on 'Underneath Shanghai and beyond - Tunnelling into the future'

The general aim is to present one event per term.

The BTS was the catalyst for the creation of APGUS in 2002 by assisting the interested Parliamentarians with funding and a secretariat for the Group.

The BTS allocates a small percentage of the Corporate Members subscription to the Lobby Group for events and visits.

Parliamentarians have visited :

• CTRL Tunnels,
• EDF Energy Underground Substation in Leicester Square
• and Heathrow Terminal 5.

Recent presentations include:

• getting utilities underground with 'no-dig',
• ‘Tunnel Fires',
• Victorian Infrastructure
• and the Stonehenge Tunnel scheme.

In addition to this the Lobby Group raises matters of concern with the Government by correspondence and by meetings. Issues supported in this way recently have included Crossrail and Kings Cross Underground Development.

The BTS Lobby Group has established good links with Members of the Government and more generally in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. We have made it clear that the BTS wishes to be a partner with the Government for promoting, reviewing and commenting on matters to do with tunnelling. Our membership of APEG gives us a wider forum for making contacts and speaking to Parliamentarians. We take full advantage of this possibility.

BTS Members, Corporate or Individual, are encouraged to contact the BTS Lobby Group via bts@britishtunnelling.org if they have issues they feel we should be pursuing with the Government or in other fora. Expressions of interest in being involved in the Lobby Group and attending meetings of APGUS or APEG are welcome.

The Chairman of APGUS is The Rt. Hon. Nick Raynsford MP
The Chairman of APEG is Bill Olner MP (www.apeg.org.uk)