The government's controversial public-private partnership plans for the Tube have been given the green light by London Transport.

The formal decision to proceed was made by London Underground board, which on Thursday informed transport secretary Stephen Byers of its decision to approve the deals with the private sector consortiums bidding to take over the maintenance of parts of the Tube network.

Forum Response: London Underground

A spokesman for London Underground told ePolitix.com: "The decision to progress to the next stage demonstrated the board's belief that the deal proposed is safe and offers value for money, as well as a secure future for the business. However, the deal will not be closed until statutory consultation under the requirements of the GLA Act has taken place with Transport for London. The period of consultation with TfL has been extended to 20 working days and the response of TfL is expected by 8 March at the latest."

Forum Response: Transport for London

Bob Kiley, commissioner for Transport, told ePolitix.com: "The Ernst and Young report released today hardly constitutes a ringing endorsement of the PPP. We continue to believe that TfL's plan is faster, safer and cheaper than the government's part privatisation. The government's assertion that the PPP would provide 25 per cent of the funding from the private sector and not the public, is hogwash. The public not only pays the bills, but they pay the extraordinary profits that are part and parcel of PPP.

"The government claims PPP may mean £5000 of spending per household during the 30 years of PPP, but Londoners will pay this sum back many times over in fares and taxes. Money far better spent under my proposals. During the twenty day consultation we will provide the LT Board, DTLR, and the public with an open and transparent critique of the PPP, taken from the contracts themselves. We will study this report, and the issues it addresses, in detail before commenting further."

Forum Response: London First

Stephen O'Brien, chief executive of London First, told ePolitix.com: "We must remember that this whole debate centres around getting investment into the Underground. If we do not start to improve London's crumbling transport system the capital is at risk of losing its position as the world's leading city for business. We have suffered over 20 years of under-investment in the Tube and have now had 4 years of negotiations on the PPP.

"We cannot afford to go back to the drawing board. The PPP has passed the value for money tests. If it also passes the safety test we must forge ahead with the PPP. There is no 'plan B' which can bring sufficient, guaranteed money into the system quickly enough.

"The other major issue for the Tube is management. We believe that Bob Kiley is the right person to run London's transport system and we would not want to see him leave this post on the basis of the PPP decision. There is a huge job to be done to turn around the day to day operation of the system and we believe he should be allowed to start doing this as quickly as possible.

"We would hope that operations would be passed to him as soon as contracts have been signed. It is also essential that the government gives the Mayor enough funding to support the payments to the infrastructure contractors. We do not want a situation where he has to cut back other transport programmes or put up fares to pay for the PPP."

Forum Response: Institute of Directors

A spokesperson for the Institute of Directors told ePolitix.com: "The Tube PPP is certainly a step in the right direction. Private sector involvement can only benefit the Underground network. However, the government is in danger of repeating the mistakes of railway privatisation. We would much rather see the Underground privatised as a whole not in part."