More than 100 people came to our latest annual Stakeholder Forum (PLA’s equivalent to an Annual General Meeting) at Clore Gallery, Tate Britain, on 19 May.

Delegates included representatives of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, the Royal Yachting Association,
The AHOY Centre, Department for Transport, Transport for London,

Livett's Launches, RNLI, Thames Clippers and Tate & Lyle Sugars.
The event included a film of 2014 highlights, presentations from PLA chief executive Robin Mortimer,
chief harbour master David Phillips
and an open Q&A session.

Our project to shape a Vision
for the development of the
Thames over the next 20 
years has got off to a cracking
start. We’ve had more than
200 responses to the initial
public consultation and over
150 people attended our public meetings.

The public meetings were held
at London Rowing Club, Putney,
Orsett Hall, Essex and the
Southbank Centre, London.
They included the film “What the Thames Means to Me”, featuring the voices of 17 different river users, an unscripted interview with PLA chief executive Robin Mortimer by journalist Mike Johnson, group work sessions looking at questions on flip charts and a closing Q&A.

“The enthusiastic welcome for this initiative suggests that people are keen to discuss plans and prospects for the Thames,” said project director Katherine Riggs. “We’ve still got more data to gather and need to look at the rich seam of feedback from the initial consultation before we can start to shape the Vision.”

Our new-look Annual Report was published at the end of April - combining the statutory requirements of such a document with the more accessible Annual Review we have published in the past.

PLA chief executive Robin Mortimer explains: “This new style Annual Report really is a one-stop shop for anyone interested in the PLA. If you’re learning about us for the first time it tells you what we do and what people value about our operations. If you’re familiar with us, it gives you all the latest news.”

For the first time ever, our Annual Report includes a calculation of financial benefit that the authority generates for stakeholders. This includes charitable donations, taxation, business community support (such as Thames Estuary Partnership and Thames Training Alliance) along with core activities that generate wider benefits, such as sustaining the PLA archive at Museum of London Docklands. In total it amounts to almost £13.5 million.

We expect to publish our first draft of the Vision in the Autumn.
In the meantime, the data we
gather, including an updated Economic Impact Study and River Capacity Study, will be made available inthe dedicated Vision web section of the PLA website.