Fifth Instruction
33. The fifth and final Instruction was agreed on
25 April 2007 and was brought forward at the specific request
of the Committee. Our interim conclusions of July 2006 covered
a range of issues, which included accepting the case for constructing
a station at Woolwich. We took the view that the Government, as
the Promoter of the scheme, should bring forward an Additional
Provision to add to the project a station at Woolwich. We address
this matter in detail later in our Report but we note here that
this Instruction was the result of months of repeated requests
to the Secretary of State. This Instruction enabled the Committee
to consider an Additional Provision for such a station.
An Impartial Committee
34. Members of the Select Committee on the Crossrail
Bill were selected because they did not have any local or personal
interests in the Bill ensuring that they could judge impartially
each case before them. The Committee ensured that all the information
provided during Committee meetings was accessible to the public.
We also insisted in committee that all legal Counsel and their
experts explained the situation to us from first principles. We
found that on several occasions, a Petitioner's original concerns
dissipated when the issue was clarified by the relevant expert
witness.
19 Paragraph 10860 [Chairman]; Paragraph 10917 [Ms J Cove]; Back
20
Votes and Proceedings, Tuesday 19 July 2005, p143 Back
21
Votes and Proceedings, Thursday 12 January 2006, p553 Back