Select Committee on Crossrail Bill Minutes of Evidence


Examination of Witnesses (Questions 280 - 299)

  280. Chairman: I am reluctant to go on for very much longer. It provides the perfect opportunity to give Members the chance to be in at the start of Prime Minister's questions. I think we will adjourn till this afternoon.

  281. Mr Laurence: That is an adjournment until 2.30, is it, sir?

  282. Chairman: Yes, 2.30 this afternoon.

After a short adjournment

  283. Mr Laurence: Sir, I am going to ask Mr Cameron, with your leave, to deal with two matters that were raised by way of question before the adjournment and then to call Mr Rees, if that is acceptable.

  284. Chairman: Mr Elvin, did you want to comment?

  285. Mr Elvin: Can I, sir, if you will forgive me, just read into the record the fact that the additional provisions were deposited today, along with the additional provisions' Environmental Statement.

  286. Chairman: By the end of today we hope to have some response to your concerns which were raised yesterday.

  287. Mr Elvin: Thank you very much, sir.

  288. Mr Cameron: Sir, just before calling Mr Rees, can I attempt to deal with two questions raised this morning by Members? Mr Binley asked a question about the distance from the subsurface level when the passenger got off the Crossrail train to the gate line, so on Figure A in the set of drawings that Mr Laurence referred to, from point K to the gate line in ticket hall B, the answer on distance is this: it is measured horizontally—that is just on the plan (that is all we have been able to do, so far)—250 metres, and then once the passenger has left the gate line it is another 75 metres until he or she gets to the street. That is the distance. I think that probably answers part of Mr Binley's question. If there are other parts of it—

  289. Chairman: That is 360 metres.

  290. Mr Cameron: It is over 300 metres to get to the street: 250 metres horizontally to get to the gate line.

  291. Mr Binley: Can I just come back on that very quickly, because this is an important issue and it is a particularly important issue for those active and, maybe, less flexible and agile than yourself—that includes me, I do not suggest the Chairman. We do need to note that, with the sort of flows of traffic that you are going to have to get through this length of space, people with disabilities, and so forth, are not going to be overly inconvenienced. That is a real problem, as I see it, over such a distance and such an obstacle course with elevators and so forth, it seems to me.

  292. Mr Cameron: Sir, those matters will be considered certainly in the alternative design we are putting forward for mobility impaired people access (MIP is the acronym). Unless you tell me, I do not think there is a specific question to answer now except to promise you that we will deal with it when we come to Mr Chapman's alternative design.

  293. Mr Binley: As long as it is flagged, Mr Chairman, I am very happy.

  294. Mr Cameron: The second point, sir, was Sir Peter Soulsby's question to me, and that was about the exhibit I referred to at Tab 9. Sir, the proportions that you have in red and blue relate to a land use survey carried out in the City where officials from the City Corporation visit every building and they take a record of the number of people employed. The neighbouring boroughs do not carry out a similar exercise, so it is not possible to provide an equivalent figure for the City fringe. However, sir, we have not ignored it; one of our later witnesses, Tim Spencer, who deals with the passenger numbers, is going to be able to provide the Committee with 2003 figures for employment in what he calls the Moorgate area and in the Liverpool Street area. They are not exactly co-terminus with the radius drawn from each station because they are blocks or zones. Put simply, he deals in squares and Mr Rees has dealt in circles. Mr Spencer has taken the City Corporation's figures from their land use survey, so the same figures as Mr Rees, but a slightly different area; he has not got equivalent figures for the City fringe, so what he has done is taken the Promoter's figures, accepted them and put them into his calculation and then, for 2016, he has used that base and taken information about planning permissions, likely planning permissions, and so forth, and worked out a figure. It does include the City fringe. So it is a long way of saying that there will be an answer to the question, it will come in due course when Mr Spencer gives evidence, but Mr Rees, who I am about to call, will not be able to help on the detail.

  295. Sir Peter Soulsby: That is very helpful, Mr Chairman.

  296. Mr Cameron: If I may, sir, I will call Mr Rees.

Mr Peter Wynne Rees, sworn




Examined by Mr Cameron

  297. Mr Cameron: While Mr Rees is getting ready, the only documents you will need, as far as I am concerned, are all in this blue bundle. Mr Rees, if I can introduce you, you are Peter Wynne Rees. Is that right?

  (Mr Rees) Correct.

  298. You currently hold the position of City Planning Officer for the City of London and you have held that position since 1987. I think I am right in saying that you held an equivalent position for two years before that.
  (Mr Rees) That is correct.

  299. So you have 20 years' experience of planning in the City, as the lead officer responsible for planning.
  (Mr Rees) That is true, yes.


 
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