Examination of Witnesses (Questions 162
- 179)
162. Chairman: Mr Elvin, I understand
that you want 60 seconds for clarification.
163. Mr Elvin: Sir, that is correct.
Sir, I mentioned yesterday, when dealing with noise issues, residential
noise mitigation. It was thought, for the assistance of those
who may be reading the transcript at a later stage and coming
before the Committee later, that I might unpack very briefly something
that I said about residential noise mitigation in order to clarify
so that there is no misunderstanding. This came at paragraph 142
of the transcript dealing with the extent of mitigation provided
for noise at residential premises. This, as you will understand,
is a concern which applies to a large proportion of the route.
What I would say is this: where, in spite of mitigation measures
being provided and the requirements of any consents under section
61 of the Control of Pollution Act, noise levels are expected
to be significant to the extent that they exceed the trigger levels
set out in the Environmental Statement, and, sir, the references
to that are volume 6A of the main statement, paragraphs 3.1.11
to 12, that, as part of the test for eligibility, noise insulation
or temporary rehousing will be provided. That was packed together
rather too densely yesterday and that, I hope, clarifies what
eligibility means a little further.
164. Can I just note for the record that we
have now provided for the Committee legible copies of the employment
generation graphs which were shown on the slides yesterday. Thank
you, sir.
165. Chairman: We are grateful for that,
Mr Elvin. Can I just clarify for your purposes that the requests
that you made at the end of your summary yesterday, they are all
being dealt with and we will make some statement on that some
time later today, perhaps at the start of the afternoon session.
166. In relation to the matter of an expert
coming to the Committee about the hearing element of it and a
possible session that we could have, we are also going to take
advice on that and give you a statement or a decision later today.
167. Mr Elvin: Yes, it was noise and
settlement issues, yes. Thank you very much, sir.
168. Chairman: Can I now call the representative
for British Land Company and George Laurence QC. Could you outline
your team.
169. Mr Laurence: Thank you very much,
sir. In accordance with the direction that you gave yesterday,
I begin by introducing my junior, Mr Neil Cameron, who sits on
my right.
170. Sir, could I just begin by saying this:
that nobody denies that Crossrail is a great project, although
some have doubted whether it will be made to happen. The Corporation
of London and British Land plc are not amongst the doubters. Mr
Neil Cameron and I appear before you, instructed by Mr Paul Double,
the City Remembrancer for the Corporation, and Mr Ian McCulloch
of Bircham Dyson Bell for British Land, to remind you that our
clients have been in the past, and remain, Crossrail's most steadfast
supporters. They want Crossrail to happen and they believe that
it will. At first blush, it may, therefore, be thought surprising
that the Corporation and British Land appear before you today
as Petitioners. It is in fact not surprising at all and, if you
will permit me in a moment, I will spend a little while explaining
in my own words why that is so, but first, sir, may I just deal
with three matters of housekeeping.
171. The first is this: that you will have observed
in front of you, members of the Committee will have observed in
front of them, a splendid model of the relevant part of Liverpool
Street Station. It is a model which we hope will be able to be
fitted into committee room 5 in due course and will be available
for you to look at as and when you find it useful to do so for
the elucidation of points which the witnesses will be making.
172. Secondly, sir, on the table are some documents,
a small bundle of documents, including a street plan, to which
we will be wanting to make reference in the course of our opening
pleas, so perhaps you can just have that little bundle to hand
when you need it.
173. Thirdly, I will ask Mr Walker please now
to hand out a copy of the outline of the opening which I and Mr
Cameron want to make to you this morning. That is not at all with
a view to your reading it as we go along; it is just that you
may find it a useful document to have separate from the transcript
to refer to at some future time.
174. As I indicated a moment ago at the end
of what is paragraph one of the document which has just been handed
to you, I would like to spend a few moments explaining in my own
words why it is not surprising that the Corporation and British
Land appear before you today as Petitioners. There are really
two main reasons.
175. The first, although technical, is obviously
important. The Crossrail Bill is a kind of private bill, although
it is hybrid. It is a kind of private bill because those who want
to see it changed may lodge Petitions and, if the Promoter fails
to meet their concerns to their satisfaction, appear before the
Select Committee, that is your Committee, sir, a committee which
has been chosen to hear and determine those Petitions.
176. The second reason is this: that the Corporation
and British Land have taken advantage of their right to petition
not merely because they have some serious concerns of their own,
personal concerns, so to speak, which they want your Committee
to hear about, but there is also one particular concern which
the Corporation brings before you in its capacity as custodian
of the interests of all who work in the City of London and its
immediate environs. The concern is this: that at Liverpool Street
Station, the Promoter is proposing to provide an inadequate ticket
hall. Passengers alighting from Crossrail who choose to exit at
the eastern ends of the Crossrail platforms underground will be
disgorged into, and clash with, those entering and leaving the
escalators which serve the Central Line underground in that part
of Liverpool Street Station. They will clash with those entering
and leaving the Metropolitan and Circle Line, the so-called `sub-surface
lines', as I think the experts call them. They will clash with
National Rail passengers entering the ticket gates as Crossrail
passengers and exiting London Underground Limited passengers leave
the same gates. The gates themselves will remain seriously constrained.
British Land share that concern for the same reasons, although
in its case of course its concern is sensibly commercial; as a
substantial owner of property in the immediate vicinity Liverpool
Street Station and elsewhere, it obviously wants the City of London
to remain an attractive place in which to work, and to become
more so.
177. The 1991 Crossrail proposals included provision
of a new ticket hall at Liverpool Street Station with exits to
the street. Similar provision was included in the scheme that
CLRL consulted on in September 2004. The Bill does not include
such provision. The explanation given by the Promoter for not
including an eastern ticket hall at Liverpool Street Station is
to be found in the Environmental Statement. It is said that forecasts
of passenger demand do not justify a separate ticket hall and
that the London Underground ticket halls are sufficient to accommodate
predicted passenger numbers. As a result, it is necessary for
the Petitioners to examine that explanation and to consider those
forecasts. That would involve consideration, I am afraid to have
to tell you, sir, of passenger demand numbers, a subject which
I find, and continue to find, quite extraordinarily complex, and
one reason why I have written down everything that I have and
given it to you is in the hope that I might have rendered partly
intelligible what is a difficult subject. We do not, however,
rely solely on an analysis of passenger numbers. There are other
broader considerations which also indicate the necessity of providing
better access to Crossrail at Liverpool Street Station. I will
ask Mr Cameron, with your leave, sir, a little later to deal with
those broader aspects as part of this opening before I finish
with some concluding remarks. However, we must turn to the numbers
first and then return to those broader issues later.
178. Sir, for what is about to follow, you may
find your little bundle useful to have. The street plan is really
there to assist you so that at any time you find you just need
to orientate yourself, you have on A4 a separate street plan to
which you can make reference, and I will just get mine out in
case anything arises on this.[1]
179. Under the proposals put forward in the
Environmental Statement by the Promoter, Crossrail passengers
will emerge into the ticket hall along a tunnel at the point I
have marked `M' on the sketch plan, which you have as your first
A3 document, at the bottom of the plan.[2]
You will see the northern alignment and you will see the Crossrail
connection with the point M identified on that plan. The tunnel
leads to escalators which lead to another tunnel and then to further
escalators down to the level of the east-west Crossrail platforms.
I will hand round another sketch which shows that. It is figures
A and B, prepared by Mssrs Ove Arup's Mr Tim Chapman who will
be giving evidence to you in due course, which show you that if
you pick up point M at the point I identified on the plan and
go in a broadly westerly direction along what we have called `tunnel
2' to point J, you then go down to what are described as `shallower
escalators' under Liverpool Street to the end of the escalator,
points H or E2. You then go along tunnel 1 under Blomfield Street
to yet another escalator, a second escalator, which begins at
point G and finishes at point F and it is at point F that you
reach the level, deep underground, of the Crossrail platforms
themselves. Those details have been provided for you as well on
figure B on the next page in order that you can see exactly where
the proposed tunnels and escalators under the Crossrail scheme
are aligned in relation to the streetscape above. So, for example,
you see that what we call `tunnel 1' under Blomfield Street is
indeed more or less exactly under the alignment of Blomfield Street
which is also separately annotated on figure B.
1 Committee Ref: A4, Ordnance Survey map of Broadgate
(Liverpool Street/ Moorgate area). Back
2
Committee Ref: A2, Exhibit A-British Land plc Liverpool Street
Station Plans. Back
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